


David's Family

by melign_thestars



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series), Gravity Falls
Genre: ;-), Add tags as I go on, Adopted Children, Adoption, Asexual David, Camp Campbell (Camp Camp), Caring David (Camp Camp), Crossover, David (Camp Camp) adopting, David being his dad self, Dipper and Wendy friendship, Dipper defending Max, Family, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Max (Camp Camp) Being an Asshole, Max and his dumb self acting like he dont care about his siblings and dad, Mystery Kids, Mystery Shack, Mystery Twins, Ya know I’m just gonna add the tag, because I’ve been looking for fics of that but i can’t find any, dadvid, its not very important yet but yknow, so far there some jabs at gwenvid, so here’s to those ppl who want it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2019-10-21 22:29:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 32,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17651084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melign_thestars/pseuds/melign_thestars
Summary: Having nowhere else to go, Dipper and Mabel get adopted by Wendy’s cousin, David, a happy, over-the-top camp counselor. As the twins stay with him, they realize that their lives—their family—will never be the same.





	1. Introduction

Wendy heard Stan talking intensely on the phone on the other side of the door. She knew she was supposed to be working, but that wasn’t any fun; besides, it sounded like a very intense conversation.

“Look…” Stan said. “I can get my brother to do it! He would be allowed to, right?” There was a pause. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

Wendy heard the footsteps coming to open the door, so she quickly went back to pretending to work. Stan came out with a long face and not much else. He didn’t say anything to Wendy.

Finally, Wendy couldn’t stand the silence. “Stan, what was that call?”

Stan adjusted his tie in the reflection of a window. “Shermie’s son and daughter-in-law were found dead. Dipper and Mabel have been staying at their cousin’s, but they can’t stay there. Shermie isn’t able to take care of them. I’ve tried to find a way but I’m not able to adopt them. Ford can’t, either.”

Wendy’s mouth hung open, trying to understand what she was hearing. What could she do to help?

That’s when she got a tiny thought.

“Stan,” she said quietly, “I need to make a phone call.” Without waiting, Wendy brought out her phone. A man, about eight years older than Wendy, answered.

“Hello, who is this?” said the voice.

“Hey, it’s Wendy.”

Wendy heard a gasp of excitement. “Wendy! Have you decided to help out at the logging camp? We could really use your help as a counselor!”

“What?” Wendy shook that comment off. “No. Of course not. I just need your help with something.”

“With what?” the man asked.

“It’s a bit of a story,” Wendy replied, thinking for a moment. “and it might be a lot to ask for. But you know how you said you wanted to adopt? Well, David, we could really use your help.”


	2. Wendy's Cousin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I know I said that chapters don't need to be read in order but. You might wanna read this one before you go on or something, idk.

To say the least, Dipper was nervous.

He didn't really have a fun time at his cousin's house, since his cousin, a snarky eleven-year-old whiz kid named Neil, was always trying to better Dipper even though they were three years apart. It was weird saying goodbye to Uncle Carl and taking him and Mabel's stuff out of the car, trying to figure out what was going to happen.

Dipper looked at the door. When he knocked on that door, the rest of his life would begin. He would finally meet the guy who would look after him and his sister for the rest of their childhood. He took a deep breath, preparing to knock on the door.

To his surprise, Mabel beat him to it. She gave no hesitation, either. The door opened instantly, as if the person behind it was waiting the entire day to do so. And it just so happened that that person was a tall and skinny redhead in jeans and a t-shirt. He looked down at the twins and gasped.

"Why, hello there!" he said. "Please, come in! I have been looking forward to this for a while now!"

Dipper and Mabel did so and plopped their stuff on the ground. The entrance lead into a small living room with a couch and two chairs. The man kept talking, the cadence of his voice rising and falling constantly.

"My name is David," he said to the twins. "I am so happy to have both of you! I would love to take you on a tour of this old place."

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other. Dipper raised his eyebrows, but Mabel shrugged and smiled. They followed David.

Through a hallway, Dipper saw something that caught his eye. It was a flag that was green and yellow. "David?"

David stopped. "Yes, Mason?"

Dipper paled. "Please, call me Dipper. I don't like that name."

"Okay, what is it, Dipper?"

"What's that flag right there?"

Dipper was never really sure about how happy somebody could get until he saw the look on David's face. The guy seemed to be tearing up.

"Oh, that's an amazing story!" David said. "It takes me back so long!"

"Really?" Mabel asked. "What is it? Why do you have it?"

"It's for the camp I counsel at!" David explained. "I've been counseling for a couple years now. When I was a bit younger than you two, Dipper and Mabel, I was a camper and Camp Campbell! Why, I made so many friends and memories there, and now I get to see so many other kids do the same!"

Dipper smiled. Looking at this guy now, his happy smile and his positive attitude, Dipper decided one thing: the rest of his life was about to start, and he was satisfied with that.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's another short chapter, but I did want to write this. Hopefully you enjoyed it! I will be doing some stories from the twins in Gravity Falls hearing about what David is doing, and then we get to the *real* fun stuff!


	3. Mabel's Guitar

Dipper awoke to the noise of a dying cat. At least, that's what he first thought it was.

"Stars!" Mabel groaned. Dipper sat up in his messy bed and saw Mabel on the other side of the room, holding a guitar in her hands. "Will this thing ever work?"

Dipper yawned. "Mabel, are you sure this is the best time to do that? It's too early. You might wake David."

"I won't," Mabel argued, strumming something that sounded a bit like the final screams and shouts of Bill Cipher. "He went to the store hours ago."

Dipper tilted his head and frowned. "Hours ago? Shouldn't he be back by now?"

"No. He's getting new camping supplies; you know how long that takes him."

Mabel did have a point: the twins have been living with David for months now, and Dipper still remembered their first trip to get hiking supplies. It was likely that David wouldn't be back till the end of the day.

"I guess that makes sense," Dipper stated. He then stretched and got out of bed. "But where'd you get that? Did he give it to you?"

"Pff, don't be silly," Mabel said, adjusting the pegs on the guitar, pretending like she knew what she was doing. "I got it from his room."

Dipper's heart stopped. "Wait, what?"

"I took it out of his room," Mabel repeated. "Fairly easy; he left and I just went in there. He has like five in there, no like I-"

Dipper ran up to Mabel and clenched his hands on her shoulders. "Mabel! We're not allowed to go in there!"

Mabel's face paled. "Oh."

Dipper let go of Mabel and paced around the room multiple times. "Oh my gosh. Mabel, weren't you thinking? That was literally one of the only rules he gave us! What if he finds out we broke the only rule that he ever laid out? Gosh, he won't trust us! He'll tell us he's disappointed! I don't want him to be disappointed! I don't want him to be angry! Mabel, we need to get that thing back in there!"

Mabel gave her brother a salute. "Of course I will, Bro Bro! As soon as I finish tuning."

Deciding to walk around the house to ease his excitement from his first few minutes up, Dipper walked around the house. He stopped in the kitchen, right by the fridge, where many pictures were hanged up with magnets. Almost all the pictures were of the campers and counselors from Camp Campbell. In the first picture, David was a small boy, and he stood right next to another kid around his age. Dipper noticed that the other kid was only in that photo. The last few had David as a counselor, and the two most recent ones had him standing next to a tall woman. David had told the twins about her-Gwen, he said her name was. She just started working at the camp a couple years ago, and that she was such an amazing person, but the twins hadn't met her yet. Hopefully, as David had said before, the opportunity would arrive one day.

Dipper heard the house phone ring. He went to the counter and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hello, Little Dipper!" said David on the other end. Dipper never really liked that nickname, but he would tolerate it from David. "I'm right around the corner, so if you and Mabel could get some shoes on and help carry stuff in, that would be great!" Dipper panicked.

"Wait, David!" Dipper squealed before David could give a goodbye. "You forgot to get something!"

"How would you know?" David asked. "You weren't with me, silly!"

"Uh," Dipper said quickly, "it's my sixth sense!"

"Woah, you didn't tell me you had a sixth sense! That reminds me of a camper I had over the summer; his name was Chucky-"

"You need to get milk!" DIpper interrupted, sweating all over. The phone was almost slipping out of his hand.

"No, I don't! I have that in the trunk!"

"Well, uh, we need ice cream!"

"What? I don't think you two need ice cream tonight."

"But we could do movie night! We could watch a movie and eat ice cream-it's a Saturday, after all!"

Dipper could hear David considering it. "Oh, well, alright. I'll go get some ice cream. Both of you have been so good this week, after all. I'll be home in ten minutes."

Dipper ran over to Mabel, who was still messing with the strings. "Mabel, put that away! Now!"

"Uh, Dipper," Mabel said, nervously, "we have a bit of a problem."

Mabel held up a broken string. As if anything could get any worse.

"Mabel, what were you doing?!"

This time, it was Mabel who panicked. She practically burst into tears. "I don't know! I was just tuning it and I must've turned a peg too much because the string just busted and now I have no idea what to do!" Mabel put her head down on the guitar and kept crying.

Dipper looked and the broken string. Then at his sister. He decided what he was gonna do.

"Okay, Mabel, pass me the guitar." Mabel gave her brother the instrument and the string. Dipper took a look at it, and his eyes suddenly popped out.

"Mabel?"

"Yeah?"

"We're in _big_ trouble."

"Why?"

Dipper gestured Mabel over to his side. Together, they looked at the back of the guitar, which had writing carved on it.

 

**TO DAVID BLUEBELL**  
YEAR OF 2000-SOMETHING  
GIFT FROM CAMP CAMPBELL FOR THE COUNSELOR OF THE YEAR

 

The twins stared at the inscription, then at each other. They kept staring.

And that's when the two heard knocking at the door. It jolted down both of their spines like lightning. And then they heard David's voice: "Dipper! Mabel! Can you get the door?"

Dipper sighed and gave the guitar and string back to Mabel. He went and got the door, David coming in, smiling bigger than ever.

"Guess what, kids? I got the ice cream! Who's ready to watch a movie?"

Dipper just stared, not knowing what to say. David obviously sensed something was wrong.

"Oh, what's with the long face? Do you mind telling me what's wrong?"

Mabel came into the room, holding the guitar up to David's face. The man looked at it, not understanding exactly what was going on.

"David," Mabel said, sniffling, "we accidentally broke your guitar."

David was silent for many moments. To Dipper, it seemed like all three of them just stood, staring, for hours, maybe even days. Finally, Mabel began to cry once more.

"David, I'm so sorry! It's all my fault. I went into your room because I wanted to use your guitar because I love hearing you play it! I didn't mean to break it, I swear! I just wanted to try it! If I would've been less of a dumb-dumb I wouldn't have went in and used it and broke it! I'm sorry, I'll do anything! Don't blame Dipper! I broke your trust!"

David stayed silent for a moment. Then, quietly, he murmured, "Kids, help me bring the stuff inside."

It was silent, putting things away. Dipper never felt so petrified in his life. Not anything Weirdmaggedon was as alarming or terrifying as seeing David quiet and not happy. The more silence there was, the more Dipper felt guilty. He couldn't take David's face out of his mind.

Then, once everything was put away, David looked at both of the kids, right in the eyes, and said, "Well, I better start repairing that string. Who wants to help?"

The twins stood in shocked silence. Dipper blinked. "Wait, you aren't mad at us?"

"Oh, how could I be? Of course, I was sad that the string broke, but it's nothing a little repair can't fix. I could never stay mad at you two. Now, let's get on with it!"

 

It was two in the morning and the family was still awake and laughing. There were ice cream containers on the floor, used guitar strings along Mabel's bed, and in Mabel's hands, with David's help, a guitar.

"You know," David said, "Maybe you two could help me with a song I've been writing. It's for the campers and Camp Campbell. Do you two wanna help?"

Mabel and Dipper looked at each other, mouths full of ice cream. They said in unison: "Yes. Definitely. Absolutely!"

 

 


	4. Crushes and Carpools

Dipper looked out the car window, a bit anxious for today. He and Mabel were checking out high schools in the area, and today they would be shadowing at one of the best ones. Dipper hoped that it would go okay, and he tried to stay calm, but he had nothing to help distract him from his nervousness. Mabel was to the left of him, knitting a sweater, and David was in the front seat, driving while listening to the Farmer's Almanac on tape. The audio wasn't very helpful for Dipper's nerves.

"Kids, can you believe it?" David said, excited as usual. "We'll finally get to tour Cavern High today! Now, remember to be on your best behavior while shadowing. This is a very hard school to get into, but I have the utmost faith in both of you! Afterward, we can go get some food!" David stopped and parked the car.

Dipper was confused. Instead of being at a large school, they were parked in front of a small house on a block. "David," he said, "what are we doing here?"

"Oh, did I not tell you?" David said. "We were asked to carpool with a young girl. Neither of her parents could find time to make it with her. She should be out in a bit!"

As if rehearsed, there was a knock on the shotgun window. David gestured excitedly for the person to come in, and the door opened to reveal a girl with dark skin and black curly hair in a huge puff. She smiled apologetically. "Hey, sorry I'm a bit late."

"Oh, it's fine!" David said. "We just got here. I'm David, and back there are my children, Dipper and Mabel. Say hi!"

Mabel gave a huge wave while Dipper gave a small but warm smile. The girl smiled back at him. Dipper blinked, shocked that she was specifically smiling at him. Not Mabel or David. Just him.

"I'm Stacey," she said quietly. She sat down in the shotgun and closed the door.

The ride to the school was a bit rough, having both David and Mabel trying to talk to Stacey at once. They were trying to ask her the best questions they could think of: "Do you like camping?" "Do you like pigs?" "What's your favorite type of flower?"

Finally, the family got to the high school. It was a huge building, and the parking lot in the front was large and still semi-filled, even though it was the middle of the day. David parked the car and had everyone get out.

"Okay, kids, do you remember what I said?" David asked as the arrived at the front office. "Be nice and smile! Be on your best behavior! And by all means, stick together!" He hugged all three of them. "Okay, you three run along to where you're supposed to go. I'm going to talk to some teachers."

As David left them, the kids looked at each other. "Dipper, where are we going?" Mabel asked.

Dipper took out the piece of paper in his pocket with all the information they needed for the day. "We're going to room 618. The kid we're shadowing is named..." Dipper squinted. "Ryan Grass."

"So, now we have to find room 618," Mabel said. "I bet it's on the seventh floor! Where's the elevator? Let's find it!"

Dipper held on to Mabel's sweater before she could run off. "Wait, Mabel, there isn't a seventh floor. I think there are two floors."

"Actually," said Stacey, quietly, "there are three."

Dipper looked at her, not sure what she said. "Sorry?"

"There are three floors," Stacey repeated, this time a bit louder. "Room 618 is on the third."

"How do you know?" Mabel asked. "Are you a mind reader? Are you from the future?"

"My sister went here," Stacey replied, looking down at her feet. "Graduated from here; I got to know the place."

Dipper shrugged. "Cool. Let's get to the nearest staircase, then. We don't wanna be late."

 

As the trio came into the classroom, maybe five minutes later, they found Ryan. He was a tall kid with brown hair, and he wore baggy jeans with tennis shoes and a T-shirt for a popular band. He didn't really talk, nor did he seem like he wanted to be there. He didn't address the twins, but he did seem to acknowledge Stacey.

After the first class, the three were about to leave when the teacher's voice chimed: "Stacey Gardner! Is that you?"

Stacye sighed, and the twins stayed back to listen, confused at how the teacher knew her.

"Hi, Mr. Nightingale," said Stacey. "Yes, it's me."

"Brilliant!" Mr. Nightingale said. "Who are your friends over here?"

"This is Dipper and Mabel. Their dad drove me here."

"Are your parents busy with your sister?"

"Yeah, as always."

"Well, I hope Nia's doing well. She was always an amazing student. The best one, in fact. I hope that you will come here and live up to her standards." Stacey nodded stiffly and said a quick goodbye.

"Come on, we don't want to lose Ryan," Stacey said quickly, pacing in front of the twins and not facing them. Both of the twins had questions.

"What was that?" Mabel asked. "Do you know him? Who's your sister?"

"She graduated here; I already told you," said Stacey. She paced faster, and Dipper had to run to catch up.

"But why does it seem like everyone knows you?" Dipper asked. Stacey's eyes flashed as she turned toward him.

"Because she was a prodigy!" she raved. "She was amazing! She got a full-ride scholarship to any college she pleased. She gets to work her dream job because of it. My parents are always helping her and they barely have time to come with me to anything!" Dipper could almost see tears in her eyes.

Dipper turned to Mabel. "Go find Ryan," he said, giving her the school schedule. "We'll catch up."

"But-"

"Go!"

Mabel nodded and ran to the next class. Dipper turned back to Stacey, who wiped a tear with her sweatshirt.

"Stacey, it's okay," Dipper said. He looked down, trying to figure out what to say. He hadn't been in a conversation like this one for a while. "That kind of stuff can hurt. I know that you feel like your parents don't care, but I'm sure they do."

Stacey stayed quiet.

"I know that it might seem like everyone has expectations set for you. It's hard with that sort of stuff. But you're your own person. You are not your sister. You can do your own thing."

Stacey stayed silent. Dipper stayed where he was, not sure of what to say. There was really not much else he could do. Then, silently, Stacey lifted her head, a sad smile plastered on her face. She sniffled once.

"I'm sorry for being a mess."

"It's fine."

Stacey looked at him, then suddenly, like a huge ocean wave, Dipper felt her arms around him, in a hug. She let go quickly and pretended as nothing happened.

"Thanks for that," she said. She coughed and went back to normal. "Better find our class. Let's go."

Stacey started walking, but Dipper, still in shock, stared for a moment. Though he had no idea, his face was redder than a fire hydrant. He walked.

 

 

"Well, kids," said David, as they all went into the car, "how was that?"

"It was great!" Mabel said. "They had vending machines! I wish I brought cash, though. I had to beg and hold up signs to get people to give me money. Hard work, but it paid off!"

"Uh, okay!" said David, a bit confused and worried. "How about you, Stacey? Did you like it?"

"I think it was fine," she said. Stacey didn't say anything else for the rest of the ride. David dropped her off at her house, and Dipper watched her walk in. And before she closed the door to the house, Dipper swore he could see her wink at him. His face turned red and hot. Unluckily for him, Mabel noticed.

"Oh my gosh!" she said. "Dipper, do you like Stacey?"

Dipper was so distracted that he didn't reply. Mabel kept saying his name: "Dipper! Dippin' Dots! Dipper; earth to Dipper!"

"There's our answer," said David from the front. "I guess he's growing up fast, right, Star?"

"Let's start planning their wedding!"

"Oh, Mabel, don't tease him," said David. "He needs time to process."

And, of course, Dipper did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Hope you like OCs because I made Stacey. I'm usually a Wendip person but I feel like that shouldn't happen in this AU.... for a variety of reasons. I think Dip and Stace would be cute! But I probably know Stacey more so that might have something to do with it.  
> Also, you might have seen David call Mabel "Star". It's not a typo. That's a nickname that David gave to her. He likes it, she likes it, everyone likes it.  
> See you in the next chap!


	5. Hiking Trips and Broken Feelings

"Okay, family," said David. "We're almost to Gravity Falls! Now, before we get out, let's go over what's going to happen. First, we'll go to the Mystery Shack. Mabel, you will be having a sleepover there with your friends."

"Whooo!" Mabel cheered. "Time for romance novels!"

"Dipper, once we drop off Mabel and all her stuff, you and I will go camping! I've brought all the stuff!"

Dipper nodded, not looking up from his journal. "Okay."

"Now, in a week, my co-counselor Gwen will be coming here and she and I will go to Camp Campbell. You two will stay here this summer. Now, I decided it was a good idea to buy you both phones. I will call you both from Mabel's phone around 2:30 each day. At the end of the summer, we will go back home!"

"I can't wait for this!" Mabel exclaimed. "We'll be staying with Soos this year! I heard that he and Melody have a son named Charlie. Pacifica sometimes watches him for money. She sends me pictures sometimes and he is adorable!"

"That's cool, I guess," Dipper said, "but I think that the summer will really start to get better once Stan and Ford get back." Dipper looked up from his journal, excited. "Ford promised me that he would show me how to build a teleporter!"

David, knowing that something like that was not possible, just smiled. His kids had such wild imaginations.

"Wait, David!" Mabel exclaimed. "I almost forgot! I made you a Tinder account!"

David tilted his head. "What is that?"

"It's a dating app! You get to meet new people and talk to them! I know you said you wanted to meet new people, so I made you one. I already have your pictures and bio, too!"

David almost started crying. "Oh, Star! Thank you so much!"

David pulled by the Mystery Shack and the three of them all got out. Mabel had all her sleeping bags and treats prepared, along with her karaoke machine.

"This'll be so much fun! But the best part is that I get to see Waddles again!"

David smiled. Mabel told him about her old pig. David wasn't sure that they could keep a pig in the house, so Mabel had to leave him.

"I gave him to Pacifica! She really likes him, and she's bringing him over tonight! I need to love him again!"

"Now, Mabel," David reminded, "remember to be polite. Be nice and don't command your friend to give you Waddles ba-"

Before David could finish, Mabel went running to the front door of the Mystery Shack. "Hey!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Pacifica, I know you're in there! Bring out Waddles! Let him out!"

The door opened, and a large pig came running to Mabel, squealing. Mabel dropped all of her stuff and hugged him.

"Waddles, I missed you, you big boy!" she said, almost in tears. "Mama missed you! I hope Paz took good care of my boy."

"Well, I think I did," said a voice in the door of the Shack. Pacifica came out with Candy and Grenda. "Do you know how hard it was to get my parents to buy him food? I had to sneak out to get some!"

"Hi, Mabel," said Grenda, the girl's deep voice shocking David. "We were all waiting for you! We get to sleep in the attic!"

"Hello, Mabel," said Candy, hugging the girl in the shooting star sweater. "We missed you so much!"

"Oh, I missed you guys too!" said Mabel. "Let's get stuff ready!"

The group of girls carried Mabel's stuff while chanting, "Sleepover! Sleepover!"

David smiled, so happy that his daughter had such great friends. He looked at Dipper, who was gnawing on a pen. "Okay, Little Dipper," said David happily, "How about we go in and say hi to everyone? I can't wait to meet everyone! Perhaps I could get Wendy to become a junior counselor and Camp Campbell!"

Dipper followed David in. Soos and Melody were talking to each other, Melody holding their baby that Mabel was talking about. David and Dipper walked up and said hi.

"Hey, dudes!" said Soos. "It's so great to see you! Hey, Dipper, say hi to Charlie!"

Dipper looked at the baby boy, who smiled happily and squealed. Dipper couldn't help but smile, and he heard a tiny "awwww" from David's mouth.

"He's almost three months old now! Right, Melody?"

"Haha, yeah," said Melody, holding her finger in front of Charlie. "He's very eager for his age. Never lets us sleep."

"Oh, he looks like a bundle of joy!" David remarked. "Congratulations, you two!"

Melody chuckled. "Thanks."

Dipper coughed. "Excuse me. Soos, are Stan and Ford here yet?"

Soos shook his head. "Sorry, dude. They won't be here for another couple of days. Apparently Stan got in a fight or something. They'll be back soon, though!"

David looked at Dipper, who didn't speak. The boy looked at his feet and nodded. David felt bad for him; obviously, seeing his two great-uncles was something important to him.

"Well, thank you for letting these two stay here for the summer," said David, trying to lighten the conversation to make Dipper feel better. "I would have liked to take them with me, but I'm afraid there probably isn't enough room at the camp. But next year, these two can come with and be junior counselors!"

David, in his peripheral vision, saw Dipper leave the room without saying anything. David decided it was best to let Dipper have alone time, so he continued to chat with Soos and Melody.

Meanwhile, Dipper went to the bathroom door. Seeing it was closed, he knocked.

"Hello?" said a girl's voice. Dipper was confused.

"Wait, Wendy?"

The door cracked open slightly, and Wendy made eye contact with Dipper.

"Okay, good. It's just you. Come in."

"What?"

"Come in!"

Dipper went in the bathroom door to see Wendy in her regular jeans and flannel. She was still wearing his Pine Tree hat, which was torn and spotted with dirt in many places. Wendy paced around the tiny bathroom, her boots clunking on the floor.

"Wendy, what are you doing here?" Dipper asked. "Obviously you aren't using the bathroom."

"Is he gone yet?"

"Who?"

"David! Is he gone yet?"

Dipper shook his head, getting more and more confused by Wendy's stressed out voice. "No. We're going camping later, we just decided to come in here for a bit."

"Crap."

"Wendy, what is up?"

Wendy stopped pacing for a second. "David is up! If I go out there, he's going to bombard me with questions about working at that dumb camp he's at! Wendy grasped Dipper's shoulders and shook him. "I can't do that again! He won't shut up about that place! It stresses me out so much!"

Wendy sat down in the corner of the room, putting her hand over her eyes. Dipper could hear her quiet sobs.

"I don't know how you can take it, Dipper," said Wendy. "How do you two do stand him? All he ever talks about is the dumb camp he works at!"

Dipper took that in. He didn't say anything. The two sat in silence before Dipper heard David's voice: "Dipper!"

Dipper looked at Wendy apologetically. "I-I'll see you later, Wendy."

Dipper came out of the bathroom and instantly ran into David. David smiled. "Ready to go camping?"

The boy nodded. David knew something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what it was. He didn't push. They walked outside and got back in the car. Instead of sitting shotgun next to David, Dipper got in the back. He immediately started writing in his journal.

David felt a pang of sadness in his chest. He tried to start a conversation. "Happy to be back in Gravity Falls?"

"Yeah," said Dipper distantly. The boy said nothing else. David tried again.

"Well, your great-uncles are coming up in a few days," said David. "That'll be fun, won't it?"

Dipper looked up, staring at David in the mirror. There were many moments of silence, and then slowly, Dipper started, "Yeah. I guess it will."

Silence ensued. David attempted a conversation once more. "It gives something to look forward to, doesn't it?"

This time, Dipper didn't even answer. He looked at David for a moment, then slowly started writing in his journal.

David felt terrible. What was wrong? Did he say something bad? Dipper had never acted this way toward him before. And that meant one thing in David's mind: it meant that this camping trip had to be the best one ever.

 

 

"Okay, Dipper," said David, getting out of the car, "we're almost there! This is as far as the car can take us, so we'll get all our stuff out of the trunk and bring it to our site! Once we set that up, we can go hiking!"

Dipper nodded, his brown eyes seeming cold and distant, as if he were thinking of something else. When he saw David looking at him, he gave a small smile that looked a bit forced.

"Dipper, is something wrong?" David asked.

"What?" Dipper's eyes expanded as he looked up at David. He looked back down again, holding his journal in his arms. "No. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? We don't have to do this if-"

"No!" Dipper yelled abruptly. He then went back to being quiet. "Let's do this. Really, David, I'm fine."

David had no choice but to believe Dipper at this point. He opened the trunk and the two of them carried supplies down to the camping site.

If you asked David, this was a lovely place. He had never gone camping in this small town of Gravity Falls, and he already loved it. It looked like a nice, relaxing place.

Once the tent and everything else was put together, David took Dipper on a hike through the woods.

"Now," David said, deciding it was best to keep talking, "usually you should stick to the paths, especially if you are new to hiking. But since I know what I'm doing, I think it's fine to go off a bit."

Dipper lifted his head. "Are you sure? That could be dangerous."

"Oh, I think we'll be fine."

"Have you ever hiked through here? Do you know what you're getting into?" Dipper looked a bit worried, his eyes squinting.

David shook his head. "Well, I haven't hiked through here, but-"

"I think we should stay on the paths," Dipper said. David felt a bit hurt. Did Dipper not think he was good enough to keep them safe?

"Well-okay," David said, not knowing how to respond. "Okay. We'll stay on the paths, I guess."

The path was beautiful. The trees were a nice green, and there was a slight breeze that helped the heat not feel as bad. David liked this place. He wasn't sure why Dipper didn't want to go off the paths.

"We're almost to the waterfall," David acknowledged. He pointed above them. "See? You can see it from here. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Dipper. "It-It looks nice."

"You know, hiking out here gives me memories of when I was a camper. I had an amazing friend named Jasper."

"Really?" Dipper said. "What happened?"

"We went to an island to get a branch from a tree. While going there, he fell down a cliff, and I had to help him get out." David was almost crying. "That day was the best day of my life."

"Wow. Did-" Dipper paused. "Did he survive?"

David stopped. Another memory came into his head. He started shaking, remembering how he never saw Jasper again. He was about to cry, but he refrained from doing so.  _Not in front of Dipper. Not now._

"Ye-Yes," replied David, finally. "He did."

It was silent for the rest of the hike.

 

 

David strummed his guitar by the fire. He and Dipper had finished their hike and had decided to have hotdogs and smores by the fire. The brunet was writing in his journal again. David smiled. His son was very bright, and he was so proud of him.

But of course, David was curious.

"Dipper, what do you write about?"

Dipper looked up quickly. "Sorry?"

"What do you write about?"

"Oh, well," Dipper paused. "Nothing really. Just about some things that happened last summer. You know, just stories. Not much." Dipper shut his journal and got up. "It's getting late. I'm gonna go to bed. Good night, David."

"Good night, Dipper," said David. "Have a good night's sleep."

When Dipper left, David was left wondering. He wondered what had bothered Dipper so much today. Had he done something wrong? What had happened?

David looked down at his guitar. Quietly, he talked to himself. "What am I doing wrong?"

The fire crackled in response. Other than that, there was silence. David thought more and more about that question. What was he doing wrong? Dipper never seemed as open to him as Mabel had. So he thought again: was there something he had done wrong?

 _That's it,_  David thought, dropping his guitar on the ground.  _I hope I'm making the best choice._

David snuck into the tent silently. Dipper was sleeping soundly, and his journal was beside him. Making sure to be careful, David grabbed it and went back outside. He sat down by the fire and opened it up near the middle. He read it in his head, paying close attention to each word as if his life depended on it.

_Dear Diary,_

_It's been a long week. We've been with David for a couple months now, and I like him. But I don't know if I should tell him about Bill or not._

_Last night I had a dream where I made another deal with Bill. He took control of my body and hurt it. He hurt Mabel and David, and so many other people. I know it wasn't real, but sometimes I remember about the time he possessed me. It was the scariest moment of my life. I was so scared I would never talk to Mabel or Wendy or Stan again. I know Bill is gone. We defeated him last summer. But sometimes it still scares me._

_If I told David about the weirdness of Gravity Falls, he would probably not believe me. I don't really have a choice but to stay quiet about my dreams._

_Maybe I'll tell him one day. But I can't do it now._

_Later._

 

David looked up from those words. He was so confused and hurt. Who was Bill? What was the weirdness of Gravity Falls? How was Dipper possessed? David's mind was going crazy and he had no answers to give it. He didn't even know exactly why Dipper felt bad today.

David looked back at the journal. He wanted to read more, but he couldn't bring himself to. This was Dipper's. Reading more of it would break Dipper's trust. And at this moment, that's all that David ever wanted to have. 

He closed the book and put it in the tent, right next to Dipper. The boy was curled up in his sleeping back. Unlike when David first went in, Dipper now had a small smile on his face. He was dreaming something amazing.

David put out the fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooowza!! That was a long chapter! I personally loved writing it. Feels are so much fun to write.  
> Also, I'd love to give a shoutout to lunamonsune on Tumblr. They originally gave me the idea to write this and we talk about it a lot. This wouldn't exist without them!  
> See you next chapter!


	6. Newcoming

Dipper woke up in the torn bed in the attic of the Shack. He looked around the room, seeing Mabel asleep on the bed across from him with Waddles in her arms. David was in a sleeping bag on the floor next to a log. He murmured the names of trees in his sleep. Dipper peered out the window and smiled when he saw the scarlet sunrise. He quietly got out of bed and crept down the stairs and went outside.

The air was cold enough for the young boy to see his own breath, but he didn't want to get his jacket in case he missed it. He would stand all day in the cold if he needed to. Dipper sat down on the couch that was set up on the porch and he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until, finally, he heard a car in the distance.

Dipper jolted off of the couch and to the parking lot. A red car was coming closer and closer until it parked right in front of him.

Two men came out of the car. The man in shotgun stepped out first. He was wearing baggy pants with a brown jacket. His gray hair and beard were rough and unkempt, and he had a gold chain around his neck. The second man, the driver, came out. He had a bit cleaner look, and he wore a bulky coat with many pockets.

Dipper ran up to the two men and hugged them. "Grunkle Stan! Great-uncle Ford!"

Stan tousled Dipper's hat. "Hey there, kid. What's happening?"

Ford patted Dipper's shoulder. "Nice to see you again, Dipper."

"I'm so happy to see you guys again," said the boy. "there's so much that has happened in the past year, with David looking after us and-"

"Ah, yes," said Ford. "I've heard of that man from Wendy once or twice. Seems to be on the bright side of things. I'm sure it has been interesting."

Dipper nodded. "Yeah. It's been nice, but there's something-"

"Why, hello!" said a voice behind Dipper. He flinched slightly and turned around to see none other than David in his pajamas. The redhead came over to where the brunet and his two grunkles were. He smiled and gave a wave to the grown men. "It's such an honor to meet you two! My name is David, but I think you already knew that." He gave them both handshakes.

"I am Stanford," said great-uncle Ford, "but the twins call me Ford."

"Oh, yes," said David. "Little Dipper here has told me all about you! Isn't that right?"

David put his arm around Dipper, who felt a bit on edge.

"And you must be Stan!" said David to the other man. "It is such a pleasure. I've heard that both of you are quite the adventurers! Dipper and Star must get it from you."

"Star?" Ford questioned.

"Oh, my apologies, sir," said David. "Mabel."

Ford squinted suspiciously. "Right. Well, David, it was  _wonderful_  meeting you." He turned to Dipper, who smiled brightly. "Ok, Dipper, my boy, I would love for you to help me down in the basement."

Dipper, almost shaking with excitement, followed Ford to the Shack. "Of course, great-uncle Ford!"

That left David and Stan in the lot. They looked at each other, and David smiled.

"I'm so happy the twins will get to see you again," said David. "They really enjoy it here, and I'm afraid I wouldn't be allowed to bring them to Camp Campbell." He kept talking. "This is such a lovely place! I would have never thought of coming here if it weren't for my family living in the area. How did you stumble here?"

"One of the last states I wasn't banned from," said Stan. "Brother asked me to come up here, I came."

"Oka-wait, what did you say first?"

 

David walked up to the attic to see Mabel knitting a sweater with her pig Waddles on her lap. She was on her phone, chatting to someone.

"Look, Paz, I know it's not perfect, but you just gotta go with it. If your cousin can't deal with it, then you probably shouldn't go to Paris. Easy as that." Mabel looked up at David and smiled. "Well, you can come over here. There's plenty of room. I think. Superheroes can wait. They're not as cool."

David sat down on Dipper's bed, looking around the attic. He saw Dipper's books, piling up all over the room. Mabel had set up posters of her favorite bands and people. David's sleeping bag was on the other side of the room. He still had most of his stuff packed to go to camp. In the corner of the room, he had extra camping supplies that he had wanted to use with the twins.

David sighed heavily, looking down at the floor. Mabel had just finished her phone call. "What's wrong, David?"

"Oh, it's not much," said David, quietly. "It's just..." he stopped and looked up at Mabel, who was looking right back at him. "Mabel, does Dipper...  _hate_  me?"

Mabel dropped her knitting supplies and started petting Waddles. "Dipper? He wouldn't! That's silly. Don't think like that."

David smiled sadly at his daughter. "Thank you, Mabel."

"Besides," Mabel continued, "even if he did, then he's just being a dumb-dumb again. It happened the first time we came here, too."

David thought. "Mabel?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened during your first summer here?"

Mabel smiled. "It was so cool! Dipper found this journal in the woods with lots of crazy animals and stuff in it. We went adventuring all the time!"

David remembered how Dipper told him to stick to the paths only two days ago. He knew why now.

"But it turns out that the journal was made by our grunkle Ford! He was stuck in a portal for thirty years, but him and Stan made up after. Dipper loves hanging out with Ford. They do science stuff."

David nodded. "Was there... anything else? Anyone?"

"Of course there was! That was the best summer ever!"

After coughing once or twice, David asked, "Do you know the name..." he hesitated. "Bill Cipher?"

Mabel stopped for a few moments. The silence was unbearable to David. Had he done something wrong?

"Yeah," she said after a while. "He was a triangle dream demon. I made a big mistake with him. I started the apocalypse. But I've learned since then."

David was a bit confused, but he kept talking to her. "What about Dipper? Did he have something to do with Bill?"

Mabel nodded. "Dip saved me! One time I was a huge dumb-dumb and he made a deal with Bill. Dipper turned into a ghost and Bill took his body."

"Oh," said David, still not necessarily following everything, but he pretended to. "Thanks, Mabel." He stood up, getting ready to exit the attic.

"No problem, Boblem!" said Mabel. She waved and went back to her knitting.

 

Dipper handed Ford a wrench and watched as the old man screwed in the last bolt. "That should do it," said Ford. "After this, we just gotta put in the electrical current and turn it on."

Dipper nodded. "What exactly will this do?"

"Well," said Ford, rubbing his chin with his hand, "It is a teleporter. I figured that doing an interdimensional portal was a bit dangerous, so I decided that this would be a far better experiment."

Dipper nodded. "Have you done this before? Did you and Stan use one on any of your adventures?"

Ford shook his head. "No. I didn't have the materials I needed. Though, in retrospect, it would've been nice for getting Stanley out of prison or in another form of danger those couple dozen times." The man put a few batteries in a slot. "Dipper, my boy, do you see these batteries?"

The young boy nodded, his eyes full of wonder. "Yeah. What's up with them?"

"Well," said Ford, leaning closer, "let's just say that there was a certain extraterrestrial spaceship in town that I happened to take these from."

Dipper gasped. "You took these from the spaceship under the hill?"

Ford nodded, smiling.

"That's incredible!"

"It is incredible," agreed Ford, "and also slightly illegal. Don't tell Stanley."

Dipped nodded. "Of course not."

"Now, I think we should wait a bit to let it warm up. We don't want to accidentally end up in Manhattan, do we?" Ford patted Dipper's back. "Come, Dipper, my boy. Let's go get some malts!"

"Whoo!" Dipper cheered. 

While walking up the stairs and out the door, Dipper and Ford ran into David. He grinned at both of them.

"Hello, there," said David. "Where are you two off to?"

"Greasy's Diner," answered Ford. "Best malts in town."

"Great!" said David. He looked slightly at Dipper, who seemed to not be eager in the conversation between David and Ford. "Well, uh... would you mind if I came with?"

Ford made slight eye contact with Dipper before saying, "Yes, you may."

 

Dipper moved the straw in his malt slowly out of boredom. David had decided to come with him and Ford to Greasy's Diner, and Dipper was still a bit on edge with him. Every time the boy looked at David, he could only remember what Wendy had said.

"So, Mabel tells me that you and your brother go on adventures," said David.

"Why, yes," answered Ford. "Recently we have been on the Pacific Ocean looking for any anomalies."

"That sounds fun!"

"Yes," repeated Ford, becoming a bit facetious. It was obvious to Dipper that Ford was not a huge fan of David. "I guess you could say that it was fun." He had some of his malt. "So, David, I heard you're leaving town in a couple days. What's that for?"

David smiled. "I'm a camp counselor at Camp Campbell," he answered cheerfully. "Me and my co-counselor Gwen work there and help young kiddos with all of their different camps and skillsets."

"And you fancy working there?"

"Why, of course! All the kids are so wonderful, even if they get themselves into trouble every now and then. Kids will be kids."

Suddenly, Dipper couldn't take it much longer. He got up from his booth and said, without eye contact, "I'm gonna use the bathroom."

"Okay, Dipper," said David. "We'll make sure to wait for you."

Once Dipper was out of sight, David turned to Ford. "Ford, right?"

"Yes."

"Has Dipper said anything about me to you?"

Ford tilted his head. "What brings up the question?"

David rubbed his arm uncomfortably, looking down from Ford's gaze. "Well, I feel like he has acted distant towards me for the past few days. I've been trying to connect with him, but it seems as if he won't let me." He looked up at Ford. "Do you think I should do something? Is there anything about him I should know?"

Ford was not expecting such a question. "Well," he started, "I don't have an answer for that at this moment."

David looked slightly downward. "Oh, okay."

"But," Ford continued, "If I learn anything, I will tell you."

David gave a tiny smile to the old man. "Thank you."

"Anytime, David. And, you know what?"

"What?"

"I hope you have fun at that camp of yours."

David smiled a bit brighter. "I will, Stanford."


	7. David's Camp Campbell Co-Counselor

"I can't wait for you two to meet Gwen!" said David, bubbling over with joy. "She's the best co-counselor I could ask for!"

"What's she like?" asked Dipper.

"Oh, she's so smart and nice. She always helps me run activities."

"Awww," said Mabel. "That's so cute!"

"Mabel!" Dipper warned. "Don't do this again, please."

Mabel shrugged. "It's cute! I can't help myself."

"Now, kids," said David, "I'll wait outside for her to come, and you two can wait in here. Oh, you're gonna love her!"

David went outside, and then Dipper and Mabel made eye contact. Mabel smiled. 

"He's so in love!" Mabel said. "Now I have two weddings I need to plan!"

Dipper coughed uncomfortably. "Okay,  _maybe_ I like Stacey, I'll admit. But perhaps David doesn't have a crush on Gwen. What if they're just good friends?"

Mabel stuck her fingers in her ears. "Nope! Not listening! Lalalalalalalalalala!"

Dipper sighed. This was gonna be a long day of trying to keep Mabel quiet.

 

David smiled as he saw the bus roll in. There were a couple of people coming out, but then he saw a woman with her hair in a ponytail. She was carrying tons of duffle bags and seemed to be struggling with all of them.

"Gwen!" David called out. Gwen saw him and sighed loudly.

"Hey, David," she said. 

"I'm so happy you're here! I can't wait to-"

"Yeah, that's great," said Gwen sarcastically, "could you help me with these bags?"

"Oh, okay!" said David. He took two of her bags and lead her to the Shack. "I can't wait for you to meet the twins!"

"The twins?" Gwen asked.

"Why, yes! I have two little kiddos that I love with my whole heart!"

"Wait, David, you have kids?!"

David brought her into the Shack. "Star, Little Dipper, meet my Camp Campbell co-counselor Gwen!"

Gwen gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, you adopted. Thank God."

"Why, of course I did. What did you think I meant?"

Mabel giggled and Dipper shushed her.

"David, why didn't you tell me you had kids?" Gwen asked. "That would've been very nice to know before I came."

"What do you mean?" David asked. "I thought I told you."

"Well, obviously, you didn't, David!" Gwen shouted. "Didn't you think it was weird when I didn't answer your text?"

"Well, actually, you never really respond to any of my texts."

Gwen facepalmed and sighed. "Okay, fine. Whatever. I really wish I'd known about kids being here before I came so I could prepare for that."

David cleared his throat. "Well, Gwen, meet Dipper and Mabel. They will be staying here all summer while we go take care of the camp. Dipper, Mabel, this is Gwen."

Gwen waved at Dipper and Mabel. "Okay, where am I staying for the night? I need help putting all this stuff away."

"I can help you!" said Mabel instantly.

Dipper looked at her and gave her a question stare.

"What is it, Dip Dop? I just wanna help." Mabel took the bags out of David's hands. "I would love to get to know you, Gwen. David had said a lot about you."

"Oh, Star, you are so helpful," David said, almost tearing up. "You two can have fun with each other. Dipper and I can go talk."

As Mabel helped Gwen carry her stuff into a separate room in the attic, she talked.

"David talks a lot about you, you know," Mabel babbled. "He says that you're amazing. You know, he says such nice things that I'd almost think you guys were dating!"

"Look, kid," said Gwen, not looking at Mabel, "I know what you're doing. It's not gonna work."

Mabel frowned. "Oh, it  _will."_

She opened the door to the empty room. Gwen put her stuff on the bed and proceeded to take things out. Mabel did the same. She gasped at the first thing she saw.

"Oh, my gosh! You read the  _Bad Boy Werewolf_  series?!"

Gwen snatched the book out of Mabel's hands. "Hey! Don't look through my stuff."

"I really want to read that series!" said Mabel. "I always wanted a werewolf boyfriend. The closest I ever got what a merman, though." She shuddered at the thought of Mermando.

"Excuse me?" Gwen said.

"Not important. But I really want to read the books, but my parents never let me, and David won't let me, either, but he doesn't have to know! Let me! Please, Gwen?"

Gwen thought for a moment. "Why?"

"Because! All the girls in my class have read it and I haven't! I want to tell Candy and Grenda and Pacifica that I've read it!"

Gwen rolled her eyes. Under her breath, she groaned, "Why am I here?" She sat on the bed with the book, looking at the cover. Finally, she said, "Fine. You can read it. Just this one time."

Mabel gasped excitedly and hugged Gwen so tight that she thought she was gonna die. "Thank you so much! I love you!"

Mabel then gasped again. "Wait, I know what I should do!"

Gwen groaned, not expecting anything good. "What is it?"

But Mabel was already dialing someone on her phone. "Hey, Pacifica? Rally up the girls. Tonight we're gonna have a sleepover!"

 

"Listen, kids," said Gwen, "I didn't want to do this. But it just so happens that  _one of you-"_ Gwen shot a mean look at Mabel- "decided to make this a huge event. I really can't stop it at this point. So, basically, don't tell your parents about this."

"Okay!" said Grenda loudly. She pounded on the floor while the other teens cheered.

"Sleepover! Sleepover! Sleepover!"

Gwen sighed. "Okay, kids. Just take the book. I'm going to get out of this room and talk to David and complain to him about not telling me he had kids."

"Yay!" yelled the girls. Gwen got out of the room and went downstairs to the living room, where she found David and his son playing chess. David looked up after moving his knight and smiled at Gwen.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully. "How's it going up there. Mabel was so happy when you let her have a sleepover."

"David, it is crazy up there," Gwen said, losing it. "I mean, those girls are persistent!"

"Oh, yes; one of Mabel's many talents is being very convincing. Don't let her persuade you, though! She can get into loads of trouble."

Gwen cringed a bit. "Yeah, sure. Okay, okay."

"David," said the boy, a bit irritated, "It's your turn."

"Oh! Sorry, Little Dipper." David moved one of his pawns and kept talking to Gwen. "It will be so much fun to go to the camp! I wonder what different campers we'll get this year."

"Whatever it is," Gwen said angrily, "it better not be that little shi-"

"Language!" David warned. Dipper plugged his ears.

Sarcastically, Gwen corrected, "-little  _angel,_ Max."

"Oh, Gwen," went David, "He's not that bad!"

"David, he literally tried to set fire to the camp last year."

"Okay, maybe he's a bit unruly, but it's nothing terrible."

"Checkmate," Dipper said out of nowhere. David was crestfallen.

"What? How?"

"Simple. You moved your pawn and it gave me a perfect chance to strike. Don't try moving your knight, either; my rook would be able to get you then!"

"Oh, darn it!" David said. "Well, good game. I think I might get some water. Anyone want anything?"

"Get me a Pitt," said Dipper.

"I'll take one, too," said Gwen. David gave a thumbs-up and walked out to the porch.

Dipper put the pieces back in their proper places on the chess board. "So, your name's Gwen, right?"

"Do you want something, kid?"

"Sure," said Dipper. "Can you play chess?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I just wanna talk. You can have the first move."

Gwen sat down on the floor and moved one of her pawns by two spaces. "What is it?"

Dipper moved his knight. "Not much. So, what do you think of Mabel?"

Gwen moved her pawn once more. "Don't get me started. She forced me to let her borrow one of my books and is now reading it out loud as we speak."

Dipper moved his knight again and took Gwen's pawn. "Look, you probably already know this, but you will never be able to get her to stop trying to hook you and David up."

Gwen sighed. "I guess."

"Also, what do you think of David?" Dipper asked. "It's your turn, by the way."

"Kid, don't go trying to get me and him together. It ain't happening." She moved her knight.

"I never said it would. It's just-"

"Okay, everyone!" said David. "I got the Pitt! Who wants some?"

"Wait, David," said Dipper quickly, "Could you get me something from Ford's office in the basement?"

David dropped the soda cans. "Okay. What do you want?"

"Tell Ford I want a-" Dipper thought. "-a sonic screwdriver!"

"A sonic screwdriver?" questioned David. "What's that?"

"Just get me one," Dipper answered. Then, as an afterthought, "please."

David gave the Camp Campbell salute. "Sure thing!"

Once David left on his journey to find a sonic screwdriver, Dipper went back to what he was saying. "Anyway, it's not about that. It's just that I feel kind of weird with him."

"What do you mean?"

"My friend Wendy is his cousin. She says that she can't stand him, and now I can't get her out of my mind whenever I look at David."

Gwen wiped the chess pieces off the board, deciding not to play anymore. "Look, kid, I don't really know what to tell you. All I can say is that what you make of him is up to you."

Dipper stared down at the kings, not looking up at Gwen. "I guess."

"Dipper!" called David, coming into the room. "I got your sonic screwdriver! Be careful with it!" He tossed it over to Dipper, who caught it.

"Thanks," Dipper looked at it, and then made eye contact with Gwen. She gave a tiny, tired smile, and he mirrored the expression. He added to the end, "David."

"No problem, Little Dipper," said David. He looked at Gwen. "What time should we leave in the morning. We gotta get there in time for camp!"

Gwen facepalmed. "Right. I forgot. I don't care."

She got up from the floor and waved goodnight to Dipper. Upstairs, in her guest room, she saw Mabel and all of her friends crowded next to each other, all sound asleep. She smiled. Who she had perceived to be as bad, spoiled kids were actually some of the sweetest she had ever seen. She now knew why David loved them so much.

Gwen laid down on the bed and fell alseep, dreaming of nice things.


	8. The Unhappy Camper

"How's it going out there, David?" Mabel asked. "How are all the activities going! What are all the campers like?"

"Oh, it's been going great!" answered David. " I apologize for not calling before now. It's been a busy two weeks for us over here."

Mabel smiled. "Is Gwen in there with you?" she asked. At this remark, Dipper facepalmed.

"Mabel, don't start this aga-"

"I'm sorry, Star," said David. "She's conducting the knot-tying activity while I'm talking to you two!"

"Awww," complained Mabel, bummed out. "Okay."

"But you won't believe what happened a week ago! Little Max made not one, not three, but two new friends! They're quite the little gang if I do say so myself."

"Wait," said Dipper, "which one's Max? He's the magic kid, right?"

"No, Dip! He's the space kid!"

"What? No!" said David. "He's the one who-"

The twins heard a door slam open. Then Gwen's voice rang out: "David! Max set fire to one of the boats and all the kids are screaming! I can't do this!"

"Wait, Gwen, how?!" David yelled. The door was slammed shut. David quickly said to the twins, "I'm so sorry, I'll call you later today, bye!" The call ended.

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other. Mabel smiled. "He sounds like he's having fun."

"Do you think this is okay for him?" Dipper asked. "I mean, apparently that one kid set fire to a boat. Should we be concerned?"

Mabel shrugged. "I think he can do it! He has Gwen there to help him, too! They're such a perfect duo."

Dipper facepalmed. "Fine. Look, I'm gonna go over to Wendy's house. We're gonna watch some movies for the rest of the day. Call me if David wants to talk again; I'm guessing he will."

"I gotcha, bro-bro!" waved Mabel as Dipper left in his navy blue jacket. She took out her phone and started to play with it. There wasn't much to do other than to do just that. After all, Stan and Ford were busy downstairs working on Ford and Dipper's teleporter. She didn't want to disturb them. All of this made her bored out of her mind.

And then she got an idea.

Mabel ran all the way to Pacifica's house. It was a medium-sized house, but was the size of a sprinkle in comparison to her old one. Mabel knocked on the door.

"Hello?" called a voice from inside. Mabel could tell it was Pacifica's. "Who's there?"

"It's Mabel," the brunette answered. "Let me in! I have something we need to do!"

Pacifica opened the door with Charlie, Soos and Melody's son, in her arms.

"What is it, Mabel?" She asked, sounding a bit annoyed. "I have to keep watching Charlie. Make this quick, because I have to be at Greasy's Diner in two hours."

"Don't worry, Paz!" Mabel said. "It shouldn't take too long! That is, if you know how to cut hair!"

"Wait, what?"

"I wanna cut my hair! And I want you to do it!"

Pacifica paled. "Mabel, I don't know how to-"

"I'll give you forty bucks for a pixie cut!"

Pacifica hesitated, then said firmly, "Deal."

 

"Done!" said Pacifica. "With an hour to spare. I need those forty dollars."

Mabel gave the blonde a fifty dollar bill. "Keep the change. Get me a mirror."

Pacifica passed Mabel a mirror. Mabel was shocked by what she saw: instead of a huge waterfall of hair that she had only an hour ago, she had a very short pixie cut. A few wisps of hair stretched out a bit longer than the others. Mabel smiled after the shock. She liked it.

"Thanks, Paz," she said. "I gotta go show Dipper!"

Mabel walked over to the Corduroy's cabin and knocked on the door. Wendy answered.

"Hey, Ma- wait, what happened to your hair?" She sounded shocked, her green eyes enlargened. 

"Pacifica cut it for me! Do you like it? I like it!"

Wendy smiled. "It's perfect. Come in. Dipper's in my room."

Mabel walked in with Wendy. "How's it going? David called us today. He has a lot of cool campers!"

Wendy didn't say anything for many seconds. "Yeah," she finally said. She opened her room door. Dipper was on her bed with popcorn, watching a movie on the TV. He looked across the room and gave a look of surprise.

"Mabel! What happened with your hair? What did you do?!"

"Paz cut it!"

Dipper put a hand in front of his eyes, murmuring to himself. "Mabel, why-you know what? Do whatever you want. Just hope that David doesn't freak. Dipper looked at Wendy. "Are we gonna finish the movie?"

"Sure, Dip." Wendy looked at Mabel. "You wanna watch with us?"

Mabel shook her head. "Nah, I'm good. Gotta go home and show Stan and Ford!"

 

When back home, Mabel went and sat on the couch. It was coming to early evening, and she looked at the TV, trying to find something good. Suddenly, her phone rang. She looked at the contact, excited to see that it was David. She quickly turned off the TV and answered. 

"Hello, David!" She exclaimed. "What's happening?"

"Who the fuck is this?" Mabel flinched from the cursing. "David's sister? Therapist? Girlfriend?"

"What?" Mabel said, utterly confused. "This is Mabel. Who are you? And what are you doing with David's phone?"

"None of your business. Just tell me who you are."

"I'm Mabel. David adopted me and my bro-bro. Tell me who you are, little kid!"

The voice, obviously a young boy, sighed. "Fine. I'm Max. Stole David's phone while he was doing his smile exercises. Pretty easy, actually. Never pays attention to anything."

"Wait,  _you're_ Max?!" Mabel exclaimed in question. "David talks about you all the time!"

"Bad things, I hope. Anyway, you sound a bit boring, and I have to get back to raiding David's Tinder, so I'm gonna go."

"Wait, don't go!" yelled Mabel, baffled about this entire conversation. "I made that Tinder for him! And I want to talk more!"

"Hm, fine," Max said. "I won't hang up and ditch you if you convince David to give me extra desert every day for the rest of the month."

Mabel thought. "Sure. Okay, first question: why did you call me?"

"You were the last contact on David's phone," answered Max, not giving much thought. "Needed to see if you had any information that could help me break David."

"To  _break David?!"_ Mabel exclaimed. "Why? That's so mean!"

"Ugh, you sound  _just_  like him. Because he's annoying. I can't stand him and I just wanna get out of this godforsaken camp!"

"Maxie, you keep saying a bunch of bullcrap," said Mabel. "You should have fun at camp!"

"Easy for you to say," said Max, "and don't call me Maxie. David probably gives you whatever you want."

"Hey! That's not true! You don't know anything about me."

"True; I wasn't listening to anything you've said."

Mabel made a tiny sound of exclamation with her mouth wide open, but then regained her confidence. "Well, all you need to know is that it's not true. He doesn't spoil us! Even Gwen likes us!"

"Oh,  _Gwen_ likes you?" said Max, with a tinge of sarcasm that made Mabel feel unsure. "Wow, you and your brother must be little angels."

"Hey, that's not-" Mabel stopped. "Wait, I said I had a brother only once! You  _were_  listening!" She smiled, a bit proud of herself.

There were the sounds of other kids coming toward Max. "Hey, Max!" said a young girl's excited voice. "Neil and I are gonna tie up David before the play! Wanna come?"

"Ok, gotta go," Max murmured to Mabel over the phone. Then he gave a loud, "Hell yes!" The call ended.

Mabel smiled down at her phone. So that was the kid that David was talking about earlier. He seemed, to Mabel, that though he could be quite a misbehaving child, he was just an unhappy camper on the inside.

Waddles jumped up on Mabel's lap and started sleeping. Mabel pet her pig and went back to watching TV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! So glad I could get this chapter done, it's one of my favorites!  
> I wanted to put a note on here because I decided to make a Tumblr for this fanfic. The account is @davids-family! I talk a lot about the fic here, sometimes make art, and you can ask me about stuff or tell me headcanons! I'm gonna post a pic of what Mabel looks like on there right after this, lol.  
> Thanks for reading!


	9. Wendy's Great Idea

"Ok guys, guess what," said Wendy, holding something behind her back. "This'll blow your mind."

Mabel gasped, fixing the big bow on her headband. "Did you get a pet frog?!

Wendy squinted in confusion. "What? Wha-no. No, I didn't get a pet frog."

"That's a shame," said Soos. "If I had a frog, I'd name it Steve."

Mabel was astonished. "Soos, no! You never name a frog 'Steve'!"

"Guys, stop fighting over this," complained Dipper. "It's kind of pointless." Everyone stood in silence for a few seconds before Dipper continued with, "Obviously, the best name for a frog is Benjamin Franklin."

"That's right, Dipper, my boy!" said Ford. "Either that or George Washington."

"No, you should always name your frog Jason Funderburker," said Mabel, crossing her arms in disappointment.

"Who cares, it's just a frog," said Stan, reading his  _Gold Chains for Old Men_  magazine.

Wendy coughed and continued. "Anyway, my Dad let me get a new phone!" She took her hand from behind her back, showing everyone the shiny screen.

"Wowza! Radical!" Mabel said. "That's amazing!"

Dipper looked at it. "It's pretty sweet."

Wendy gave a cheeky grin. "Yep, and it's all mine. And most importantly: I don't have any contacts in here. You know what that means?" She looked at Dipper. He shrugged.

"What does it mean?"

"It means no more texts from David," said Wendy happily. Dipper shifted uncomfortably, but Wendy didn't notice.

"I would be delighted, too," said Ford. "That man can be quite a bit."

"You're telling me," said Stan. "He thinks everything in this shop is real. A bit of an idiot if you ask me."

Mabel gave Grunkle Stan a sad, puppy-dog eye look. "You mean you don't like him?"

Stan was caught a bit off guard by this. He didn't want Mabel to feel sad. "No, pumpkin," he responded. "I love him."

Mabel smiled again.

"I dunno, dudes," said Soos. "I think he's pretty cool. Sent me pictures of some of those kids. Haha!" Soos chuckled. "Love them."

"No, Soos," said Wendy. "It's annoying. If I see that elfkin girl  _one more time,_ or god forbid that blue hoodie kid sticking up his middle finger at the camera-"

"Oh, you mean Max?" Mabel asked. "Haha, he's a nice kid."

Everyone kind of gave Mabel stares. Wendy went back to what she was saying. "I'm gonna flip out!"

"I dunno, Wendy," said Dipper, a bit quietly. "Don't you think you're overreacting just a bit?"

Wendy shook her head. "No way, dude. When I had my first boyfriend, I made the mistake of giving David his phone number. He's so nosy!"

"I'm sure the man has gotten better over the years," said Ford. "After all, he was happy that you got a boyfriend!"

Wendy stayed quiet for a few seconds before cracking a smile. "Wait: I have an idea!"

"What is it?" Mabel asked.

"David doesn't have my number. That means that this is the perfect opportunity to prank call!"

 

David picked up his phone on the way to town. It was a quiet drive, other than The Farmer's Almanac playing. He called Mabel. She picked up almost immediately.

"Hey, David!" she yelled. David smiled when hearing her voice. The camp kids could be stressful sometimes, especially today, and hearing his daughter's voice was refreshing.

"Hello, Star," he said. "How's it going in the Falls?"

"It's going amazing!" said Mabel. "We're having loads of fun! When can Dip-Dop and I come to the camp? That would be so cool!"

"I don't know," said David. "We're a bit piled up right now. Things might have gotten a little out of hand today, so Gwen decided that she would take care of the camp while I took the rest of the day off to go into town."

"Aww, that's so nice of her!" Mabel said. "She's sooo amazing."

"Mabel!" yelled a voice in the background. David perked up a bit more.

"Is that Dipper? Could I speak to him?"

"Uh-huh!" Mabel said, then shouted ear-piercingly loud, "DIPPER! DAVID WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!"

"Sorry, Mabel, I can't!" said Dipper. "I gotta use the bathroom!" David could hear footsteps rushing out of the room.

"He has to use the bathroom," said Mabel.

"Oh," said David sadly. "Okay. I just... hope he doesn't hate me."

"David! David! Don't be silly! Dippin-Dots would never hate you!"

David parked the car next to Lester's 'Lectronics. He smiled forlornly. "Okay, Star. Thank you. I just got into town, so I have to let you go. I'll talk to you later."

"Love you!" Mabel hung up.

David got out of the car. Time to take a break.

 

"Okay, what do we need to do?" asked Dipper. 

Wendy smiled. "Well, I think I have a plan. You know that one movie?  _Explosion Bonaparte_?"

Dipper nodded. "Of course. It's a classic. Everyone has watched it. But what about it?"

"Well, do you remember the name of that one guy's girlfriend?" Wendy's face cracked with excitement.

Dipper thought for a couple moments. "It was something... Bonfina? Bonchika?"

"Nope!" said Wendy.  _"Bonquisha!"_

"Okay," said Dipper barely following. "But why does that matter?"

"Well, we're going to pretend that we're a woman named Bonquisha and say that David has asked us out on a date. No matter what he says, even if he straight up tells us we have the wrong number, we'll keep insisting on having him go out on a date with us. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Okay, great. Give me his number."

Dipper read it out to Wendy. She mumbled out loud while sending a text.

"Hey, sugar.... want...to...go out... tonight?" she said to herself. Wendy looked up at Dipper. "There. Now we should wait for him to reply."

 

While walking around town, David felt his phone buzz in his pants pocket. He got it out and checked. He saw a text from an unknown number.

 **Hey there, sugar! Wanna go out tonight?**  💖

David was enthusiastic. A few nights ago, he had given a girl his number after going on a date with her. Was this possibly her? Did she love him that much?

 _Keep it together, David,_  he told himself. He texted back while walking to the store.

**If this is who I think it is, then of course! I love you sweetie!**

Not long after he got a text back.

**It's Bonquisha! I just realized I can't go out tonight because I'm doing crossfit, but let's meet tomorrow! btw you're cute af**

David blushed so hard that his pale skin was as red as his hair. "Such a sweet lady," he said. "She has to be the one!"

 

Dipper snorted with laughter. "You have to be kidding! Is he serious? He's taking it?"

"Wait, dude," Wendy said in between snorts. "He sent another text." She laughed before reading it aloud to Dipper. "'Thank you, honey! I'm so happy you think I'm fun! Dinner at 8 tomorrow then?'"

Dipper laughed again. "Dude, I've never tried pranking David! How haven't I thought of it before? He can be pretty gullible."

"Seriously, I've been pranking him ever since I met the guy. Sure, he's my older cousin, and I used to do it a lot more, but it's still always worth it." Wendy's phone dinged. She grabbed it quickly. "Ok! He sent another text! Lemme read it."

Wendy's smile turned into slight confusion. "What's wrong?" Dipper asked.

"This makes no sense. He said that Bonquisha-that's us-just texted him. He says that this has to be a prank."

"Wait, what? That makes no sense."

"That's what I thought. I have absolutely no clue what's going on."

Suddenly, the phone started ringing, surprising Wendy so much that she dropped it on the floor. She and Dipper stared at it, then gave each other looks.

"It's David!" Wendy whispered as if the phone could hear. "Should we answer? This wasn't planned!"

"I don't know; this was all your idea!"

Wendy slowly picked up the still-ringing phone and answered in a fake, high-pitched voice: "Hello? This is Bonquisha! How are you, David?"

David gasped on the other line. "You're not Bonquisha! You must be a hacker!"

"What? No!" Wendy was so confused by that line that she ditched the fake voice. David gasped once more.

"Wendy! Is that you?" David yelled. "What are you doing?! Are you pranking me again?"

Wendy stuttered, "Well, actually, I...actually... I don't-"

"I'll have to tell your father about this!"

Wendy's eyes widened. "David, no!"

"Well, I'm sorry, Wendy," said David, "but you need to learn that your actions have consequences." And with that said, David hung up.

The two teenagers were silent for a while before Dipper gave a slow, "Wow. I have  _never_ seen him that pissed off before."

"I can't believe this," said Wendy. "I'm gonna get my phone taken away."

And, a few hours later, she did.

 

It was moments before 1 AM when Mabel heard her phone buzz. She slowly opened her eyes and groaned, hearing it buzz more. The girl looked at the contact and saw that it said David's name. What could possibly be so important that David would call at this hour?

Deciding to not wake her brother, Mabel crept into the bathroom and answered the phone. "David, why are yo-"

"Fuck, it's you again," said a familiar voice. Mabel rubbed her eyes.

"Wait,  _Max?"_

"Look, I'm bored and I figured you wouldn't be doing much. That simple. Also, we need to talk about that dessert. It's been five days and I'm still not seeing any extra food on my plate."

"Max, why do you have David's phone? He went away from the camp for a day. He told me."

"Snuck in his car. Simple. He found out about us so he made us go camping with him. That shit takes a break from the camp by going  _camping!_ How can you live with that?!"

Mabel giggled. "Max, you can't just do whatever you want. Be nice to David."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Fuck you."

"Language!"

"You suck."

"Right back at you, Maxie."

"Don't call me Maxie!"

"Max?"

"What is it?"

"Be a good little brother and take care of David, will you?"

Max seemed to be surprised. After all, Mabel  _did_  just call him her little brother. But he replied moments later.

"Sure."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! Another chapter!   
> Wanted to take the moment to say a few things.   
> 1) this fic has reached 400 hits! Thank you all for your love and support!  
> 2) I have quite a few plans for a few characters, one of them being Jasper. I don't wanna spoil much. I'm sad that it'll probably be a long time before I get to write that chapter though.  
> 3) I've gotten a few people asking if Bill will be back, and I want to officially say: yes, he will be back, for a short period of time. And here's a thing: he has something to do with Jasper in a way.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. Uncle Daniel

"-And it turns out that he has a girlfriend named Bonquisha!" said Mabel. "I always thought he would end up with Gwen, but I talked to Bonquisha and she is so amazing!"

"Mabel," said Pacifica, braiding Candy's hair, "don't you think you're a bit too obsessed with this?"

"No, she's not!" yelled Grenda. "She's not obsessed! I wanna see how it turns out!"

"Yeah!" agreed Candy. Pacifica sighed.

"Fine. Whatever you guys think."

Mabel went on. "Anyway, Bonquisha would be the coolest mom ever, mostly because-"

Pacifica's phone buzzed. She looked at it and groaned. "Ugh, I have to go. My parents want me to get ready for my cousin to come home."

Mabel tilted her head. "Cousin? Oh, is Adrien coming back?"

"What? No! That was a mess. My  _other_  cousin."

"Who is he?" asked Candy.

"Is he hot?" asked Grenda.

"He's not actually my cousin," Paz said. "He's just a huge family friend and my parents treat him like he's their precious child. His name is Daniel, and he's coming back today."

"So," said Grenda, "is he hot?"

"I dunno. He's super skinny. Looks a lot like David, actually. Except... whiter, I guess." She got up and stretched. Once right outside the door to the Shack's attic, she said, "I'll talk again as soon as I can. I  _hate_  him so much."

"Bye, Paz!" all the girls waved.

Pacifica was almost all the way out of the Mystery Shack when she heard a "Hey, Paz," from Dipper. She turned around and saw Dipper and Wendy looking at something.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," said Wendy. "But David's texting me again. Photos of campers, the sunset, him and Bonquisha. The usual."

"Anyway, where are you going?" asked Dipper. "You usually don't go back to your house this early."

"My cousin's coming to visit," Pacifica explained. "He's actually Gideon's cousin, but my parents force me to call him my cousin. I have to go to the Gleeful's tonight to see him."

"Dude, I almost forgot about Gideon," said Wendy. "The kid never comes outside anymore. Haven't seen him in a while."

"Yeah," said Dipper. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen him at all this summer. Wonder what he's up to these days."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to find out," said Pacifica, crossing her arms. "I gotta go, or else my parents will scorn me for being late. Bye."

Before she could leave out the door, Dipper said, "Wait! Can we come with?"

Pacifica turned around again. "I don't think my parents would let you."

"Worth a try," said Dipper.

"Yeah, and we have nothing to do here," said Wendy. "Just let us come."

Pacifica groaned. "Fine, I'll let you try to come. But no promises!"

"No promises!" agreed Wendy.

"No promises!" repeated Dipper. "So, I guess we should get going then!"

 

Pacifica's parents were less than happy.

"Pacifica," said her father, "why did you bring these two low-lifes here? We are supposed to be seeing Daniel today."

"We will not be greeting him with these wild animals," said her mother.

"Mother, Father, please?" Pacifica pleaded. "They won't be distracting. Maybe Daniel will like them."

"We could change clothes," suggested Wendy. Dipper gave her a death glare, but she dismissed it.

"Hmmm," said her father. "He might appreciate that. Pacifica, have your friends change clothes. We will be leaving in an hour."

"Okay," said Pacifica. She brought Dipper and Wendy to a huge closet with lots of different clothes. She handed Dipper a tuxedo and Wendy a red dress.

"Ugh, do I have to wear this?" asked Dipper. "It looks itchy."

"Why do I have to wear this dress?" complained Wendy. "It's not my style. Do you have something else?"

"You guys asked for this, remember? This is all your fault."

Dipper sighed. "I guess."

 

Pacifica knocked on the door. Immediately, a chubby child answered. He had many freckles covering his pale face, and his white hair was combed down. His blue eyes stared at Dipper, as if afraid.

"Hello," he said, in a slight, almost unnoticeable Southern accent. "Come in. He's here already."

"Why, Gideon, who's here?" said a voice. The voice gave Dipper chills. Who was that?

"It's the Northwests," answered Gideon, then he mumbled, "and a few of their friends."

"The Northwests!" said the man cheerfully, coming to the door. When Dipper saw his face, he got chills. In front of him was a man who had the same face complexion as David. Even the hairstyle was the same. The only thing that was different was that this man was wearing white. His pale face and blonde hair gave Dipper some sort of red flag, but what was the worst about this man was his eyes. He had light blue eyes, just like Gideon's, but these were more sinister. Chills creeped up on Dipper's back, and he saw Wendy stiffen.

"I'm so happy you all are here!" the man continued. "Preston, Priscilla, it is a pleasure to see you two again!"

"The pleasure is ours, Daniel," said Mr. Northwest.

"Oh, and Pacifica, too! You have grown so much since I last saw you!" Daniel leaned closer to Pacifica's face, making her turn a bit pale. "Still wearing lake-foam green, I see."

"Y-yes," answered Pacifica. Her mom hit her on the back of the head.

"Pacifica, no stuttering."

Daniel stood up again, this time looking at Wendy and Dipper. The two instinctively held hands, feeling in danger.

"Ah, you must be friends of Pacifica, I suppose," said Daniel. "Pleasure to meet both of you. My name is Daniel!" He shoved his hand into Wendy's shaking it fiercely.

"Wendy," she said. "Wendy Corduroy."

"Corduroy? Hah!" said Daniel, still shaking her hand. "You know, I knew a girl once. When I was about your age. Named a guy with that last name. Had the maiden name..." Daniel leaned close to Wendy, and murmured, "Bluebell."

Wendy went pale, almost tearing up, but Daniel seemed to not notice. He went to shaking Dipper's hand.

"Now, what's your name, kiddo?" asked Daniel, shaking Dipper's hand so hard that he felt as if he would be jerked down to the floor.

"Dipper," he answered.

"Dipper! What a nice name! Or perhaps, a nickname." Daniel did not lean close to Dipper, but instead gave an intense, beady-eyed stare, and said, "You know, people with nicknames usually have something to hide."

"What?"

"What are you hiding, kid? There's nothing to be afraid of! You are safe!"

"I-" Before Dipper could say anything else, Daniel walked to the living room.

Dipper could already tell that something was up with this man. But what was it? And what could he do to stop it?

Dipper followed everyone to the living room.

 

It was late that evening. Gideon was supposed to be asleep. But he was so excited to see Daniel again that he didn't. They were in his room talking.

"You know, Gideon," said Daniel, "You are such an amazing nephew. You are probably the best thing that has happened in my life."

"Really, Uncle Daniel? said Gideon. "You really mean it?"

"Why, of course I do!" said Daniel. "You are such a bright kid. Which brings me to ask a favor of you."

"What is it? Anything for you!"

"Well," said Daniel, "I'm afraid I have something that needs to be done, but no human could ever do it. Do you know any spells to summon demons?"

Gideon hesitated. "Wait, why?"

"Oh, the reason doesn't matter! Do you any, dearest nephew?"

"I guess I do," said Gideon. "Two years ago, I summoned a demon named Bill Cipher. He'll do anything for you if you do a favor for him in return. I barely remember the spell, but I can try to write it down for you."

"Why, thank you, Nephew Gideon! You are such a wonderful child."

Gideon blushed from the compliments. He wrote down the spell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> We're getting to the good stuff now! I'm so excited!  
> Also, just wanted to put my blog back in (davids-family.tumblr.com). I make a few posts on there every so often, and I'm planning on making an exclusive one-shot that will only be available on there. So follow the tumblr to get some info on that 👈😎👈
> 
> See you next chapter!


	11. Bad Kids and Bonfires

Daniel felt the air get colder as everything moving around him came to a slow halt. Time quickly moved forth in a seemingly backward motion. Light illuminated dimly in front of him, and he heard a loud cackle.

"I'm back, baby!" said the laughing voice. "Oh, wow, I was not expecting this!" Daniel could not tell where the voice was coming from. Nothing was in sight.

"Where are you?" he asked. "Who are you?"

"The names Bill Cipher," said the voice. "Pleasure to meet ya, Danny. As you can see, I'm in a bit of a situation. I can't physically appear since I'm not strong enough yet. But that'll change as soon as you help me!"

"What do I need to do?" asked Daniel. "I have something I want you to do for me, also."

"Well," said Bill, thinking. "You're a cultist. You kill people, kid! Listen, the more dead human souls you send to me, the more powerful I'll become. Then I can help you. Got it?"

"Of course," said Daniel. "And I think I know just the place to go."

 

"-But it's so fucking stupid," said Max. "When will he realize that nobody cares? He just seems to be in a fantasy world. Why won't he admit that it's not worth it?"

"Stop talking like that," said Mabel, who was knitting a new sweater while having this phone call. "Maybe you don't like it, but it makes a difference to him. If he wants that, then let him have it."

"Mabel, it's dumb," he said. "Why do you keep defending him?"

"Max." For once, Mabel sounded harsh. "I love you, but you need to stop with that. Just because you don't like him doesn't mean he doesn't deserve anything."

Max was silent for a couple of seconds. "Whatever. Look, I gotta go. Talk to you soon?"

"Okay. Be nice."

"Bye."

The call ended and Mabel kept knitting.

"Mabel, who do you keep talking to?" asked Dipper. "Almost every night you call someone, and I know it's not David."

"Oh, it's one of David's campers," answered Mabel, petting Waddles. "He's the one that tried to set fire to the camp."

"You're talking to  _Max?"_ said Dipper incredulously. "Mabel, why? How?"

"He takes David's phone and calls me."

"Mabel, are you being a good influence on him? He doesn't seem like the best kid."

"He just needs someone to love him!" argued Mabel. "He has a nice heart. By the way, did you know he's best friends with Neil?"

Dipper's pupils shrank. "He's  _what_  now?"

"He's friends with Neil! You know, our cousin. We stayed with him and his dad before David adopted us."

Dipper facepalmed. "Dang it. Could things literally get any worse?"

"What do you mean? Just because Neil really hates you and tries to prove you wrong all the time doesn't mean he doesn't deserve friends!"

"I  _know_ that, Mabel. But  _why_ did it have to be Max? Couldn't he have gone to some other camp? One that wouldn't mean we would have to interact with him more?"

"Oh, you're okay, Dip. At least he's having fun."

Dipper sighed. "You know what? You're right. But also, next time you talk to that kid, tell him to be nice to David, okay?" Dipper walked over to the door, putting on a jacket. "The guy called me today. He said that he felt really bad and that he couldn't make the campers happy."

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Mabel. "It's after nine at night. Mosquitoes are going to eat you up."

"I'm gonna hang out with Ford and Stan. Ford wants me to help him finish that teleporter we've been working on. After that, we're all gonna play cards. I'm gonna go over to the Bunker for it; wanna come?"

Mabel yawned. "I don't think so. David wanted me to knit sweaters for all of the campers and I still have to do a few more. I'm too tired."

"Okay," said her brother, readjusting his hat. "Goodnight, Mabel."

"Goodnight, Dipper," she called back. Dipper left the attic, leaving just Mabel, Waddles, and the glowing lantern light.

 

Dipper had lied, just slightly.

The teleporter was finished weeks ago. He and Ford had decided to keep it in the Bunker, just in case something bad happened in the Shack. So Dipper, with a flashlight in hand, and smelling of bug spray, he entered the Bunker.

He entered the test chamber and picked up the teleporter. It was a round disc and fit in Dipper's hands. To go where he wanted, he just had to put in the name of the place.

**Camp Campbell, Sleepy Peak**

There was a huge flash of light, and Dipper felt his skin pinch. Then, he felt raindrops on his hands and skin. Thunder was crackling in the far distance, but right ahead of him, Dipper heard the voice of a child yelling. Dipper looked in front of him to see a clearing, where no other than David was trying to light a fire in the rain. A small child walked in angry circles while yelling at him. Then, the boy walked closer to David.

"Why don't you just get with the program and stop giving a shit?"

Dipper could see the kid smirking, knowing that he had defeated David. The kid turned around and started walking back to camp. Dipper's fist tightened slightly.

Then, Dipper heard David's voice trembling in the rain.

"You're right."

The boy spun around, surprised at what his counselor had said. "What?"

"You're right," repeated the counselor. "The campers don't care, Gwen doesn't care; even the founder of this place has better things to do."

The man turned to the child, his hair drooping over his face in the cold rain. "That's why I'll never stop trying: because somebody  _fucking_ has to."

The child stared at the counselor. Dipper could see his eyes blinking over and over, as if not believing what had happened. He looked at the ground, then back at the counselor. He gave a small, "David-"

"Go back to your tent, Max," said the man, trying to get the fire lit. "You'll just catch a cold." Then, the steel in his hands broke. The counselor threw it at the logs, yelling, "Oh, give me a break!"

Suddenly, the logs started quaking. Before Dipper or the child could process it, the logs tumbled on to the man.

Dipper, with adrenaline rushing faster than he could think, ran to David, shoving the wood off of his body.

"David!" he hollered. "David, can you hear me?" No reply came from the counselor. Dipper's head turned to the boy, who was watching in dismay.

"Who-who are you?" the boy asked, taking a small step backward.

"Who am I?" said Dipper, mocking the boy without thinking. "Who am I? I am Dipper, and you must be Max. David always talked about you-how you  _might_ act bad but that there was  _some_ good in you. Even my sister said that! But I guess both of them were wrong. Max-this is all your fault!"

The boy took another step back, then murmured, "I didn't expect this to happen."

Dipper almost dropped David's limp head on the ground in anger.

"You didn't want this to happen," said Dipper, shaking all over. "You didn't want this to happen?! Tell me then,  _Max,_ what  _did_ you want to happen?"

The boy looked down at his shoes, the rain making them soaking wet.

"Dipper screamed. "Tell me!"

The boy still didn't answer the question, but instead asked, "What can I do to help?"

Dipper's anger lessened, realizing that David still wasn't awake. He looked at the man's face. there were a few tiny scratches, and there was one large bleeding bruise on the side of his forehead.

"I don't know," said Dipper softly. "It looks like he should be fine if we leave him here to rest."

"Should I get Gwen?"

Dipper nodded, quietly agreeing, "Get Gwen."

 

Later that night, back at the Mystery Shack, Dipper got a call. Mabel was asleep, and Dipper wasn't doing anything, so he had no reason not to answer. He saw that it was from David's phone. "Hello?"

"Great, it's you again." Dipper recognized the voice right away.

"Wait, Max?"

"Yeah, nice to hear your voice again," said the boy sarcastically. "Anyway, in case you didn't hear from Gwen yet, David's fine."

Dipper heaved a sigh of relief. "Good."

"But why did you leave?" asked Max. 

"It's not my place," said Dipper. "Look, please don't tell David I was there, alright?"

"Fine. But make sure your sister talks to David about giving me extra dessert. I still haven't gotten that yet."

Dipper smiled slightly. "Okay, Max."

Dipper could hear a door open. Gwen's voice came on. "Max, what are you-hey! Why do you have David's phone? Who are you talking to?"

Max grunted a few times, Dipper guessing that Gwen was taking the phone away from him. "Go join your friends at the campfire before I hit you with David's guitar, you little shit!"

"Fine, Gwen." Dipper heard the door slam shut.

"Hi, Dipper," said Gwen. "Thanks for putting some sense into Max today."

"What do you mean?" asked Dipper.

"After you left, he planned the bonfire for tonight. All for David. He did it because of you."

Dipper paused. "Really? He did that?"

"Maybe it's hard to believe, but I think David's right: maybe Max does have a tiny bit of good in him."

Dipper smiled. "I guess so, Gwen. I guess so."

 


	12. New Counselor, New Problems

"Hah!" yelled Pacifica, jumping off of the couch. "I win again! I told you I'm better than you!"

"Take that, Dipper!" Mabel tickled Dipper, and the boy tried his hardest not to laugh out loud.

"Come on," argued Dipper once Mabel was done tickling him. "She only won because I was going easy on her."

"That's what you said for the past five times," said Pacifica, giving off her best smirk. "I can't help that I'm just better than you, Dip."

Dipper scoffed. "Yeah, whatever."

Mabel's phone dinged. "Oh my gosh! David sent a text!"

"What's he saying?" asked Paz, leaning over Mabel's shoulder.

"'Gwen got us a new co-counselor! His name is Daniel and he's so amazing. Ttyl!'" Mabel read. She grinned at Dipper and Paz. "That's so cool! I can't wait to meet him."

This time, Dipper's phone dinged. He looked and saw that he got a text from Gwen.

"This doesn't sound good," said Dipper. "Gwen just texted me. 'I hate the new counselor. Taking time from the camp to end my suffering. Trying to find a new co-counselor. David needs common sense.'"

"Wait," said Paz, her voice a bit quiet, "You said his name is  _Daniel?_ Did he send anything else? Like, a picture?"

Dipper suddenly realized why Pacifica was nervous. "Wait, you don't think it's your  _cousin_ Daniel, right?"

Mabel cackled. "Hah! He sent a pic. The guy looks just like him." Mabel showed the two others the phone, with a picture of a man with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a chilling, friendly smile.

"Wait, that  _is_ your cousin!" exclaimed Dipper to Pacifica. "What's he doing at Camp Campbell?"

Pacifica paced around. "That doesn't seem like him. Going to a camp doesn't seem like him. Especially as a counselor. Something must be up."

Mabel shrugged. "Maybe he just likes kids!"

"I don't think that's it. I've seen him many times in my life. The times that I've talked to him, he didn't seem that interested in large groups of children."

"There has to be an explanation for this," said Dipper, sweating. "There's gotta be something!"

"What's so bad about this?" asked Mabel. "He's just a guy! He can't be that bad!"

"Obviously," said Pacifica, "You haven't met Daniel."

"Yeah, Mabel," agreed Dipper. "That dude is  _creepy_."

"Yeah, dude," said Soos. Everyone looked over at him.

"Wait, when did you get in here?" asked Dipper.

"Just now," answered Soos. "But I heard you dudes talking about Daniel. That dawg is creepy. Something feels off about him."

"Yeah, I told you, Mabel!" said Dipper. "That guy doesn't even blink!"

"Maybe he's blinking when you're blinking!" Dipper and Pacifica both facepalmed.

"Mabel, it doesn't work that way!" yelled Dipper.

"I don't think it's likely that Daniel blinks at exactly the same time as both me and Dipper. You really need to brush up on your logic." Pacifica crossed her arms.

"Whatever," said Mabel. "I think that it's nothing David can't handle!"

That's when Mabel's phone dinged. "Oh! I bet that it's David again!" she looked at her phone and her face slightly crumpled. "This doesn't sound like David!"

"Is it Max?" asked Dipper.

"I think so! He's such an over-exaggerator sometimes." Mabel typed something on her phone.

"Hey, dudes," said Soos, "Apparently there's this new rollerskating place in the mall. You dudes wanna come? Melody and I are going with Charlie."

Mabel gasped, dropping her phone. "Yes! I love rollerskating! We should totally go! Right, Dipper?"

Dipper frowned. "I mean, I guess we could. But I'm supposed to hang out with Wendy, but I could probably go with her."

"What's rollerskating?" asked Pacifica. "It sounds gross."

Mabel gasped, pretending to faint. "Pacifica! You poor, poor girl! You have never gone rollerskating! You have to come!"

"I don't want to," argued Paz.

"You have to!" yelled Mabel. "I'm forcing you! I'm gonna knit you a sweater to wear tonight!"

"Ugh," Pacifica groaned.

Dipper chuckled, looking through his phone. He was just browsing when he got a text from David's phone. It had a few words written in caps lock.

**YOUR DAD HIRED A FUCKING CULTIST**

 

Daniel was barely breathing while in the ambulance to the hospital. He had failed. How would he tell Bill? He needed another chance.

Luckily, the days before had gone well: he had given those children to Bill, and now the demon was visible. He was a triangular pyramid with a bowtie and a top hat, with two arms and two legs. He had one eye that stared through souls.

"Well, well, well, well-well-well- **well!** "

Daniel gasped, sitting up. It was Bill's voice. Right above him, Daniel saw the dream demon, who was circling his black cane around his finger.

"Looks, like someone failed! I thought you might, kid. Let me be honest, kool-aid: you're not that special. At least, not yet. But I can fix that!"

"What do you mean?" asked Daniel. He could feel sweat dripping down his head.

"You're about to die, kool-aid! But that's fine. If you just shake my hand, I'll give you a great deal of immortality! Something I've never given before. Not even ol' Sixer could get that out of me."

"I want it," said Daniel. "I want to live forever!"

"Hold up there, bud," said Bill. "I've never done this before, weren't you listening? Which means that this comes with a price. Listen, kid. Just keep doing what you're doing. Kill kids! Give me everything! And once I've gotten all my strength back, you will be my servant." Bill's hand went ablaze with blue flames. They sparkled in Daniel's eyes. It was such a pleasure. Living forever! That's what he could get. What could be so bad, anyway?

Daniel reached out his hand and shook it with Bill. "I think we have a deal."

"And it's a fine deal, Kool-Aid. Now let's get out of here and cause some chaos!"

In the distance, a child with black, curly hair had a nightmare of robotic laughter and piercing screams.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! A new chapter! I've been so busy in the past week and haven't been able to update, but I'm on spring break now, so I'm hoping to get a few things done then!  
> I think I might write a mini-chapter of the rollerskating rink on the blog, but idk yet.


	13. The Ex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to put a note in here saying that there's a mini-chapter that's up on the blog! Here's the link: https://davids-family.tumblr.com/post/183874214354/skating-at-the-rink-mini-chapter
> 
> It's not a very important thing and was just made for fun. Anyway, enjoy!

"Dipper! Dipper! This is important!" Mabel yelled. "Something terrible just happened!"

Dipper sighed, not looking up from his journal. "What is it now, Mabel? Did Waddles eat popcorn on the sidewalk again?"

"What? No. Well, that was pretty important. But this is huge!" Mabel ran over to Dipper and grabbed his jacket, jerking him back and forth. "Bonquisha broke up with David!"

Dipper put down his journal. "Wait, what?"

"Bonquisha broke up with David!" Mabel repeated, pacing in circles around the attic. "I was wondering what had happened! I texted him for days and he wouldn't answer any of them! But Gwen just texted me today saying that David got in a fight with Bonquisha's new lover!"

Dipper blinked. "David? That sounds a bit hard to believe."

 "And that's what I thought," said Mabel, "but then Max texted me, saying that we should come over to Camp Campbell to help David. I told him that we couldn't get out there, but he told me that you just so happened to come over a while ago."

Dipper cringed as Mabel crossed her arms while staring at him. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I kinda... took the teleporter Ford and I worked on and went to the camp."

"Without me?!" Mabel yelled. "Dipper!"

"In my defense, you didn't want to go anywhere then."

"But still!" Mabel sighed. "Okay. But since we're able to, let's go check up on David. From what I'm hearing, he's not doing so great."

"Okay," said Dipper, grabbing the teleporter out of his pocket. "Basically, just hold onto it and we'll both be teleported there." Mabel put her hand on the teleporter.

Suddenly, the scenery changed. The twins were in the middle of a forest with a path below their feet. It was late at night and slightly chilly, and the mosquitoes bit their skin immediately.

"Where are we going?" asked Mabel. "I have no idea where we are."

"Maybe we should follow this path," said Dipper. "Wish I brought a flashlight."

Suddenly, a bright light blinded both teens. "What is that?!" yelled Mabel.

"Flashlight," said someone, turning off the light. "Just like you said."

The person walked up to the twins, and Dipper saw that it was none other than Max.

"Wait," said Mabel, "You're Max!"

"Anything else you wanna say?"

With a yelp, the ten-year-old was lifted up into Mabel's arms in a tight hug.

"Stop it! You're killing me!" Max kicked and punched Mabel to no effect.

"I can't believe I finally get to see you in person!" Mabel said, continuing to squeeze Max. "And your hair is floofier than I thought it would be!"

"Mabel," said Dipper, "He's turning purple."

Mabel looked at Max again. "Oh. He should be okay." She put him down.

"Okay, do you want me to lead you to the counselor cabin or not?!" asked Max, smoothing out his hoody.

"Yes, please, Maxie!" said Mabel, giving a salute.

Max flicked the flashlight on in Mabel's face, causing her to slightly flinch.  _"Don't_  call me Maxie."

As Max lead the twins closer to the counselor cabin, there was the sound of a man crying, his wails getting louder and louder as they came closer and closer. Finally, the three kids were right at the door, the man was nearly loud enough to deafen all of them.

Max opened the door without a second thought or a knock. "I got them here. Where's my money, Gwen?"

Gwen looked over at the three. She was knelt down next to the bed where David sat, crying. His entire face was red, his nose was running, and Dipper had never heard anything worse than his cries.

"Thanks, Max," said Gwen, coming to his side. She gave him a five dollar bill. "Now go back to your tent."

Max went out of the room. Gwen gave a tired half-smile to the twins.

"Thanks for coming. I didn't want to bother you, but we had a bit of a problem today."

"What happened?" asked Dipper.

Gwen looked at David, and in the sweetest voice she could, she said, "David, could you tell the twins what happened today?"

David cried even harder. Mabel rushed to his side and gave him a hug.

"Oh, you've had such a long day! You had a rough breakup! Let all your feelings out."

"Yeah, the thing about that," said Gwen, "he's been crying like that for over a week. But today was even worse."

"Wait," said Dipper, "They broke up before a couple of days ago? Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I thought I could handle it," said Gwen. "David, tell them what happened."

David took a deep breath of air before slurring all of his words together in a long sentence. "I'm so sorry! I saw Bonquisha at a restaurant and I was talking to the kids and then I saw Bon Bon's new boyfriend and I punched him and whacked him with a chair and hurt him and I was mean and I shouldn't have done that and I'm sorry about it!" David wailed and Mabel squeezed him.

"Oh, it's okay, David. Shhh, it'll be okay. Maybe she wasn't the right one for you."

David cried even harder. 

"I don't know if you're helping, Mabel," said Dipper. "If anything, he's crying even harder now."

"You know what?" Mabel announced, getting up from the bed. She pulled up the sleeves of her sweater. "Dipper, I think that we should go talk to Bonquisha."

"Wait, Mabel," said Dipper, holding on to Mabel's arm before she left the room. "Is that a good idea?"

"Of course it is!"

"Mabel," said Gwen, "It's like, 2 AM."

Mabel looked at the time. "Oh. Right." She marched in circles around the room. "I don't wanna go back to Gravity Falls. Not with David like this!"

David sniffled. "I-I'm sorr-I'm sorry, St-Star, what did y-you-what did you say?"

Mabel looked at Dipper with puppy eyes. "See? But we can't talk to Bonquisha until tomorrow. Gwen!"

"What?"

"Can Dipper and I spend the night in here?"

Gwen heaved a huge sigh. "There's no way you're gonna take no for an answer, is there?"

"Nope!" said Mabel, hanging her head high.

"Fine. You have to sleep on the floor or a chair. We don't have anything else."

"Thank you!"

Dipper bit his lip. "Actually, I think I might go exploring around here."

Gwen gave him a quizzical look. "Really?"

Dipper nodded. "Would you happen to have a sleeping bag and a flashlight? That would be nice."

"Uh, sure," said Gwen. "There's some in the cabinet over there. There are some boats out there, too, but stay away from the Woodscouts."

"Okay. Thanks. I'll see you in the morning."

 

Dipper rowed the boat out to the island in the middle of the lake. With his journal on his lap, his flashlight and his sleeping bag in his backpack, and his mind in the distance, Dipper hoped that there was something out there for him to find. Something that he could possibly show to Ford.

The boat came onto the land of the island. There were bushes and a narrow path that lead through a huge, wooded forest. Dipper took a deep breath and turned on his flashlight. What would he find?

Before long, Dipper heard a noise. He quickly turned around, hoping to see something. But nothing was there. Dipper moved on, the path becoming broader until he saw it lead to a run-down house.

Dipper looked at the mailbox that stood close to the house. Inscribed on it were the words "C. Campbell".  _It must be Campbell's old place,_  thought Dipper. I _wonder if there's a reason he left it._

Cautiously, Dipper opened the door into the mansion. It creaked, but nothing broke. He looked around, shining his flashlight in every place possible.

"Hello?" Dipper said. "Anyone here?"

There was no reply. Not that Dipper thought there would be. But he climbed up the stairs and looked around again. He saw no one and heard nothing. Everything was as if nothing interesting had ever happened there.

It was as if it were normal.

Dipper sighed. _I guess I should just sleep here for the night,_  he thought. He went back down to the main floor and put his sleeping bag down. He laid in it for a while, staring at the ceiling. Maybe there wasn't anything paranormal around here. Sure, that would be a bit strange for a place called "Spooky Island", but it happened sometimes. He sighed, taking off the hat that Wendy had given him years ago, and fell asleep.

 

For some reason, Dipper had woken up.

He took one look at his phone, seeing that it was five in the morning. He had only gotten three hours of sleep. He was still tired. But why did he wake up?"

Looking around the room he was in, Dipper put on his hat and gave a loud, "Hello?"

Then, Dipper thought he heard something. He got out of his sleeping bag and looked around him. He said again, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

Out of surprise, Dipper flinched when a young voice said, "I'm here."

A boy opened the door to the house. He was tall for how young he looked and had blonde hair. He wore a slightly outdated sense of style, with purple plaid under a yellow shirt and a blue pair of shorts. He gave Dipper a tiny smile, but it seemed strained.

"Who are you?" asked Dipper. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" asked the boy. He coughed uncomfortably. "I'm Jasper. I come here sometimes."

"At five in the morning."

"I should be asking you the same thing, homeskillet. Who are you?"

"Dipper. I was looking to see if there was anything here that I could find." he sighed. "Obviously, it's not so spooky as people say it is."

"I don't really do much around here," said Jasper, "But I could try to help you find something. What are you looking for?"

"I dunno," Dipper said. "Some sort of paranormal creature, I guess. Something I could show my uncle."

"Paranormal?"

"Yeah. Like, ghosts, werewolves, gnomes, something like that."

Jasper bit his lip. "Sorry, bromide, I haven't seen any of those types of cre-"

Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door. Jasper's eyes widened in surprise and before Dipper could process what was going on, the young boy fell through the floor.

Dipper blinked and rubbed his eyes. He thought he was just seeing things, but Jasper wasn't there. Dipper ran over to where Jasper was standing before, kneeling onto the floor. "Jasper!" he yelled. "Jasper, what happened?"

Then, Dipper saw a hand come through the floorboards. First, just the hand, then the wrist and arm, and then Jasper's head and body. The boy gave an uncomfortable smile.

"What was that?!" Dipper yelled. "What just happened?!"

There was another knock at the door. "Dipper!" yelled Max's voice. "Mabel wants you and she won't get away from David!"

"Just a moment!" yelled Dipper. He whispered to Jasper, "What is up with you? What was that?"

The boy rubbed his arm. "Okay, I might have lied before. I  _have_ seen paranormal creatures. Specifically, ghosts. Because I am one."

Dipper's eyes widened. "You're unlike any other ghost I've seen!" He put his hand in Jasper's stomach, and it phased right through."

"Dipper, seriously,  _now!"_ yelled Max from outside. "I'm not going in there!"

"Okay, Max!" Dipper said back, annoyed. "Just go to the boat!"

"Fine!"

Dipper went back to his conversation with Jasper. "Would you mind if I could talk to you a bit later? I gotta go right now."

Jasper nodded. "Sure, bromide. Just knock and don't open any doors that are closed."

"Okay," said Dipper, slightly confused. "Tomorrow, then?"

"That works."

"And also," said Dipper, not knowing what he was doing. "Take this." Dipper took off his hat and handed it to Jasper. Somehow, the ghost managed to pick it up and put it on his own head. He smiled.

"See you soon, homeskillet."

 

"This is it," said Mabel. "We're here! Bonquisha's place."

"I can't believe that we're doing this," said Dipper. 

"What do you mean, Dip? We're just trying to talk Bon to take back David so he can be happy again!"

"I don't think this'll work," said Dipper.

"Of course it will!" Mabel knocked on the door and a man opened it. He was tall with dark skin and brown eyes that looked down at the twins. One of his arms was in a sling.

"Hello, who are you two?" asked the man.

Mabel coughed. "We're here to speak to Bonquisha!"

The man smiled. "Why, come on in. The name's Jacob. I'm Bonquisha's boyfriend."

Dipper could see Mabel's look become hostile. He held on to her hand to keep her from doing anything irrational. Bonquisha saw the twins as they came in and gasped.

"Hey now," she said. "Aren't you two David's children?"

Mabel nodded happily. "That's us! I'm Mabel and Dipper's my brother."

"Wait a minute," said Jacob, "Isn't David your last boyfriend? The one who hit me with a chair?"

Bonquisha nodded. "Uh-huh. What are you two doing here?"

"I'm here to tell you to take David back! He says he's sorry for what happened."

"Oh, hell no! He broke my boyfriend's arm! That man is not coming near me ever again."

Mabel growled, flinging her arm away from Dipper's grip. From her sweater, she pulled out her grappling hook. "You take that back!"

"Don't you dare start shooting that thing in my house," threatened Bonquisha. 

"Oh, I sure will!" yelled Mabel. "Watch me do it!"

"Mabel, don't do this!" Dipper yelled.

"Shut up, Dipper! We've got work to do!"

Bonquisha cracked her knuckles. "Take one more step and I'll take that away from you!"

Before anyone could do anything, Mabel shot the grappling hook right into Bonquisha's stomach. Jacob quickly ran over to her, and Dipper grabbed Mabel before she could do anything else.

"Mabel! Look what you did!" Bonquisha was on the floor, holding her stomach. "Go apologize!"

"No!" Mabel said. "Never!"

Dipper made Mabel turn and face him. "Mabel, there's no reason to get so angry over this! David will be okay at some point, and you're causing more harm than you're fixing!"

Mabel's anger melted. She looked around. "Stars, come to think about it, I don't know why I got so angry." She went over to Bonquisha and knelt by her. "Do-do you need any ice?"

 

"Dude, I'm sorry about what happened today," Dipper said, sitting on a bench next to Jacob. "Mabel can get really carried away sometimes. Especially when she sees David sad."

"It'll be okay," said Jacob. "Bonquisha's gonna be alright. You seem like a nice kid, Dipper. I think you're gonna do great in life."

Dipper smiled. "Thanks. David sometimes says that, too."

"Then I guess he's right. Listen, David isn't my favorite person, mostly because he injured my arm, but he's doing well with you and your sister. It almost seems like you're the one taking care of the family."

Dipper didn't know what to say to that. Was that really how it seemed? "Oh," he said slowly, "Thanks?"

"No problem, kid," said Jacob, getting up. "See you sometime soon."


	14. The Real Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry about not updating for a while, I've been p busy lately. But, here's a new chapter! Enjoy!

It was another hot sunny day, and Dipper decided that the best use of his time was to talk with Jasper. He went to the mansion in the island, making sure that nobody was following him. Then, when inside, he said, "Jasper!"

The ghost stuck his head out of a door. Once seeing it was Dipper, he smiled and walked over to him.

"Hey, bromide!" he said. "Nice to see you again!"

"You too," said Dipper. "So, I have a few questions for you. You don't have to answer them if you don't want to, but it would be helpful to answer all of them. Got it?" Dipper took out his pen and journal excitedly.

"Sure thing."

"Okay, let's start: when did you become a ghost?"

"Fifteen years ago."

"Got it," said Dipper, scribbling stuff down in his journal. "In this time span, have you encountered any other ghosts?"

Jasper shook his head. "Never."

"What about any other paranormal things?"

"Unless you count the old people trying to get their freak on in the mansion's basement, no."

Dipper's face wrinkled. "What?"

"I'd rather not talk about it. Next question?"

"Okay. Are you able to go off the island?"

"Sometimes, if I try really hard, I can almost make it to Camp Campbell."

"Why would you want to go there?" asked Dipper.

"I went there."

Dipper looked up from his journal. "What?"

"I went there." Jasper repeated. "Before I became a ghost."

"Wait, really?" said Dipper, writing it down and mumbling, "Maybe you might know David, then."

The ghost paled, almost falling through the floor. "Wait, what did you say?"

Dipper looked up. "Nothing. I just said that you might know David."

Jasper squirmed uncomfortably, his eyes not meeting Dipper's. "Oh. Okay."

"What's wrong? Did you know him?"

Jasper continued to look down at the floor. "No," he said slowly. "I don't."

Dipper, not really knowing what do do, started, "So, er-"

"-Could we do this another time?" asked Jasper. "I'm sorry, dude."

 "Sure," said Dipper awkwardly. He put away his journal and pen, said bye to Jasper, and headed out.

 

Dipper should have not gone to the camp afterward. He just thought he might say hi to David and Gwen before heading back to Gravity Falls. But no; when he got to the camp, all he saw was a bunch of kids laughing at something, with no sight of either counselor.

And for some reason, Dipper decided to step in. In the long run, it was an idea that he kinda regretted.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" asked Dipper. "Where are the counselors?"

The kids just looked at Dipper. One kid, a large boy in an outfit that looked a bit like Gwen's, just said, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Hey, language!" warned Dipper. "I'm Dipper. Now, answer my question: where are the counselors?"

The kids looked at each other. Finally, a tiny child with black hair and blue eyes jumped up with his hand in the air.

"Oh! I know!" he said. "David went to take Gwen to a job interview!"

Dipper's heart stopped. "Wait, what?"

"Gwen's getting a new job!" said the boy.

"Who's watching over you guys, then?"

All of the kids pointed to the large boy in the Gwen costume. Dipper facepalmed and sighed.

"Okay, that's not happening," said Dipper. "Until David and Gwen come back, I'm your counselor."

All the kids groaned and booed.

"Now, I feel like there should be more of you. Where are the others?"

Then, a familiar voice made Dipper flinch.

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

Dipper turned around to see the person he did not want to see.

Neil stood in front of Dipper, crossing his arms. A girl with bushy green hair stood by his side, smiling.

Dipper facepalmed. "Oh. Hi, Neil."

"Uh, no!" said Neil. "What are you doing here?! I didn't think I'd see you again!"

"Well, I came over here because I wanted to say hi to David and Gwen but-"

"Why David and Gwen? How do you know them?"

Dipper was somewhat startled. "Wait, Nobody told you?"

"What?"

The girl next to Neil gasped. "Wait, Neil, is that your cousin? Wooah, this is gonna be good!"

Neil covered the girl's mouth. "Shut up, Nikki! You stay out of this."

"Neil, David  _adopted_  me and Mabel!" Dipper yelled. The boy stopped.

"Wait, does that mean..." the boy calculated.

The redhead started snorting at Neil. "Neil's related to David!"

All the campers started to laugh at Neil, including the girl right next to him. He grunted and balled up his fist, stomping away.

Dipper yelled. "Quiet!" As would be expected, none of the kids silenced. Dipper yelled louder.

"If you all don't quiet down, I'll tell David to not give any of you deserts for a week!"

Then, all of the kids looked up at Dipper and obeyed.

"Now, what time is it?" asked Dipper aloud, looking at his watch. "Two-thirty. Alright, then. All of you, head to your evening activities. I don't wanna see anything out of place happen, or no dessert at all. You hear me?"

The kids all heaved large sighs. "Yes, David's son."

Dipper wrinkled his nose. "Don't call me that. My name's Dipper."

The campers departed, and Dipper sat down by the activities field, reading and journaling. In the bushes, there was a tall, brunet nerd, scheming.

 

"Hello, everyone," said Neil, having everyone gather near him at the amphitheater. "I'll make this quick since he isn't here. So! My cousin is pissy, and I don't want to listen to him!"

"I don't know, Neil," said Nurf. "He makes a compelling case with dessert."

"Oh, shut your mouth! I have a way we can rebel! You guys won't just let him take over this place, will you?!"

The campers all looked at each other.

"Oh! I love rebellion!" yelled Preston. "Rebellion! Betrayal! Love!"

"That sounds pretty cool," said Ered.

"Woah, Neil!" said Nikki. "What are we gonna do? Should I get the bees? Or would the gasoline be fine?"

"Nikki, no," said Neil, trying to calm down the crazy girl. "I just have something that'll make him feel bad." Neil's smile was insidious, and his fingers curved. "But we all have to be a part of this, okay?"

 

"Hey, Nikki," Dipper said, seeing the green-haired girl holding a cup with what looked like soda in it. "Where'd you get that? There's a no-soda rule here, isn't there?"

"I don't know, Mason," said Nikki. "I just found it on the ground next to the road, tasted weird at first, but-"

"Wait," Dipper interrupted, his hands fidgeting. "What did you just call me?"

"Mason," answered Nikki. "You said to call you that."

"No," Dipper said, starting to have a nervous breakdown. "No, no, no, no, nononono, I didn't. Nikki, what-"

The door to the mess hall flew open. "Hello, Mason," said the tiny black-haired boy. "Can you please look at mein art?"

"Hey, uh, Mason," said a chill girl, "Do you know where the extra skateboards are?"

"Mason! Mason!" yelled a boy in cardboard and a fishbowl on his head. "Can you help me repair my engines?"

Dipper was so startled by all of these comments that he zoned out. How had all these kids learned his name? He couldn't have said it before. He never wanted to be called Mason. Who would do this?"

And that's when he thought of it. He marched out of the mess hall. "Neil, you better come here right now!"

The child came over to him, smirking. "Yes, Mason?"

Dipper flinched but kept yelling. "I know you did this! Tell them all to stop!"

"Why, cuz? I thought you were trying to get over how much you don't like your name."

"Stop!" Dipper leaned close to Neil's eyes. "I don't know why you keep doing this! You keep trying to prove something when there's nothing to prove!"

Neil crossed his arms. "Oh, get over it. The fact that you were adopted by David has ruined my life. I'm getting mocked almost just as much as Max was before you came."

Dipper stopped. "Wait, what?" He had known there was something that was missing from the camp, and now he realized that it was Max. "What happened?"

"You can find out yourself, Mason. I'm not telling you anything."

Dipper stood up. "Fine, be like that," he mumbled. He tried to think of where Max would be. Would he be in the lake? On the island? What about the amphitheater? But Dipper decided to look in the most simple of places: the tents.

"Max!" he called. "Max! Are you here?"

Then, Dipper heard a few sobs and sniffles from a tent nearby. Dipper immediately went to see Max.

"Max?" The young boy looked at the teenager. His eyes were red from the tears and his arms were clenched around something that Dipper couldn't see. "Max, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," the boy answered harshly. "Get the fuck out of here, please."

Dipper came fully into the tent and sat by Max. "No, I will not, Max. Tell me what's wrong."

"Fine. They all made fun of me."

"I know. Why?"

Max didn't answer. He looked down at the thing he was holding in his arms. He dried some tears with the sleeve of his hoodie. Then, he held up what was in his tiny hands.

It was a tiny teddy bear.

 

Dipper stomped out to see all of the campers. "What did you all do?!"

"What is it, Ma-" 

"Shut up! I don't care if you bother me about my real name. But you guys went a step too far." Dipper was screaming his lungs off. "I'm more than pissed at all of you! So what if Max has a teddy bear, what's wrong with that?"

"But Maso-"

"No!" Dipper yelled. "I don't want to hear it! All of you deserve to be punished for this. What gives you kids the nerve to do this to another?!" Dipper lost his temper. "You know what? None of you will be getting any dessert."

All the kids sighed and left. When they were all gone, Dipper felt a tug on his jacket. He looked down, seeing none other than Max, holding up his teddy bear.

"Max!" said Dipper in a soft voice. "You came out of the tent."

Max nodded. "I'm, uh, sorry for making you stick up for me. Thanks, Dipper."

"Please, call me Mason."


	15. Siblings' Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REEEEE I THOUGHT I WOULDNT FINISH THIS FOR A LONG TIME BUT I WAS HAVING SO MUCH FUN
> 
>  
> 
> PLZ ENJOY

_"We'll be a happy little family; I promise!"_

Max thought about David's words while in the back of the worn-down car that went along a road that he didn't care to look at. In his hands, Max held Mr. Honeynuts and wouldn't let go. For once this summer, he was afraid to say anything.

 _Happy little family,_ Max thought. Obviously, this promise could not come true. Could there even be such a thing? His family had never been happy. Ever since he was little, he was scared. He was sad. Max balled his fist and let out a tiny, solitary whimper.

"Max, you okay back there?" asked Gwen while driving. Max didn't answer or even raise his head. Gwen didn't repeat the question because she knew the answer: no, he wasn't okay.

None of the three people spoke. Max could hear David texting on his phone. To whom, he didn't care. Max, finally gaining the courage, lifted his head up just enough to look into his bear's eyes. Mr. Honeynuts was the only thing that got him through all of his life. He was there for as long as Max could remember. But now he was patched and ripped and sewn over and over again. One day, would Mr. Honeynuts be gone?

Before Max could think of the answer, he felt the car stop. He didn't look up to see where they had gone because he already knew that it would be bad. Gwen had Max get out of the back, and while holding his hand gently, Max felt the warm glow of light, and that's when he looked up.

To his confusion, they were at Sleepy Peak Pizza Bros.

Max still didn't say anything as the three of them walked into the restaurant. David took Max over to a booth while he smiled at Gwen as she ordered pizza.

Finally, Max couldn't hold his curiosity. "What are we doing here? What about Campbell's big show?"

David looked down at the table, saying something that sounded like it came out of a surreal dream. "It's stupid."

"What?"

David said it again, but this time, more firmly. "You're right. It's stupid. You shouldn't have to pretend for anyone."

Max was more than surprised. "Are you... okay?"

David sighed. "I'm... sorry, Max. I try to always see the good in things, and I try to get others to see the same, but pretending things are okay when they're not doesn't help anything." David lowered his voice again, looking at Max. "I'm sorry your parents don't care enough, Max. You have every right to be angry. But you deserve to be happy. And I hope you can find that here at camp, even if it's not today."

Max stared at David, feeling both too much and too little to say anything. But though he didn't say it, he felt grateful. For once in his life, he felt like someone was there to help him. He felt cared for. He felt...  _loved_.

"Life sucks sometimes," Gwen said, walking to the table with a large pizza, "but at least there's pizza."

She sat down next to David, and the two adults looked at Max, who only stared at the hot food in front of him.

"Well, don't just look at it," Gwen said, after a long silence. "Eat up, you little shit!"

For the first time that evening, Max cracked a smile.

 

"You know, I just think it's funny," laughed Gwen. "Suzy was the most annoying bitch I'd seen."

"Gwen!" commented David, his mouth halfway filled with pizza, "mind your language!" His complaint, however, didn't stop him from smiling.

"Oh, whatever!" Gwen said. "Anyway, this girl was about to tell her mom that I stole her toy, but I wasn't gonna let that happen, so I—"

The bells on the door to the restaurant rang. Max immediately looked over to see two people, both wearing jackets. The girl stuck her tongue out and have a peace sign. 

"Hey," said Mason. "Sorry we're late. The teleporter stopped working for a bit and we had to get Ford to help us, but we're glad we made it!"

Mabel, with no comment beforehand, immediately went to hug the tiny boy. "MAXIE!! I'm so glad you're okay!! How do you feel?!"

Before Max could answer the girl, she took out a bag and pulled something out of it. "I thought you might need something to make you feel better, so I knit you this sweater! Please say you like it, Max!" She handed it to him. "Try it on! I need to get a picture of you!!"

Max pretended to be annoyed by it. He looked at the soft sweater. It looked almost exactly like his hoodie. It was two shades of blue. But on the left, there was a tiny pocket, where Mabel had sewn on the face of a teddy bear.

Max took off his hoodie, revealing his yellow T-shirt, then put on the sweater. It had to be one of the comfiest things he had ever worn.

"Awww!" Mabel squealed, taking seemingly thousands of pictures on her phone. "Look at you! You're growing up right before our eyes!"

Max looked over to David, Gwen, and Mason. David seemed to be rubbing away tears with his arm. Gwen smiled at him. Mason gave him a slightly-apologetic smile and shrugged.

All of them talked for a long while, eating pizza while the other families at the restaurant left or fave rude glances at their loudness. But Max didn't care, and neither did anyone else at their table. They kept laughing anyway.

Finally, Mabel gave Max a final goodbye hug. "Oh, Maxie, I'm so glad you're okay! Please have a nice day at camp tomorrow!"

Mason came over to Max and knelt next to him as Mabel pulled away. Mason offered Max a high-five, which he gladly took.

"If anyone hurts you, beat 'em up," he said.

"Dipper!" said David. "Don't encourage violent behavior!"

Mason smiled. "Sure, David." Mason leaned in to give Max a hug, and once they were close, Mason whispered, just loud enough for Max to hear: "Stay awake tonight."

 

Max had no idea why Mason had whispered that to him. At first, he thought that it was just a dumb saying, but Max found himself awake in his tent that night. The rain poured outside as Max thought about the evening. He looked around at everything. But with Mr. Honeynuts in his arms, he snuggled in his new sweater.

Then, out of nowhere, Max heard the tent open up. He looked at the front and saw Mason's head popping through. He smiled.

"Max," Mason whispered. "Come out. Hurry. David doesn't know about this."

Max came out of the tent as quickly as he could without waking Neil and went out into the night's rain. Mason smiled at him. "I've got a place to take you." Mason held out his hand. Looking between the teenager and his dirty wet hand, Max wrinkled his nose but held it. Mason took out some sort of disk, held it for a moment, and then Max's vision was filled with blinding light. Max closed his eyes tightly and squeezed Mason's hand. Then, a few seconds later, Max opened his eyes.

The place the two were at was less than what Max expected. It was a somewhat large-looking house that had signs nailed and plastered all over it. Max didn't know what he was supposed to be doing here.

"What is this place?" asked Max. "What are we doing here?"

"This is my home," answered Mason. "Every summer, Mabel and I come here. This is where my family is."

Max was confused. He looked up at Mason. "What, does your uncle live here or something?"

"That's not what I mean, Max. But yes, both of my great-uncles live here." Mason held Max's hand tightly, heading toward a door labeled "Gift Shop". "Let's go in, shall we?"

As the door opened, Max could hear pop music. Inside, it was brightly lit, and a few people chattered in the room they walked into. When the door loudly closed behind them, many of the people stopped and gave smiles. In the middle of the room, Max could see Mabel in a yellow party sweater with a headband that had a large bow.

"Maxie!" Mabel ran over to the young boy. "You're here!"

Max held his breath as he accepted the hug. Mabel kept talking.

"We thought you might wanna meet some of our friends!" Mabel put Max down and dragged him away from Mason. She pointed at two girls, one with black hair and glasses, and the other having a large form and a ponytail. They both smiled warmly at Max.

"This is Candy and Grenda!" Mabel said. "They're my best friends."

The two girls were about to tackle Max but Mason grabbed him out of reach before they could. "Alright, we don't want you to die now, do we?" he said. "Come meet some of my friends."

Mason brought Max up to two girls who talked to one another. One of them was tall, with a torn baseball cap and long sleeve flannel, while the other was blonde and wore a dress with Uggs and a jean jacket.

"Max, these are Wendy and Pacifica. I've known them since I was twelve."

Wendy gave Max a thumbs-up. "What's up, kid?" Pacifica only smiled and waved.

Max focused hard on Wendy. "You related to David or something?"

Wendy rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yeah."

"Well, we don't want to get into that complaining," decided Mason, dragging Max along to meet new people. They reached a married couple, the wife holding their sleeping daughter.

The whole night, Max met person after person, all of who Mason and Mabel were friends with or related to. It was exhausting, and Max pretended to get annoyed, but on the inside, he liked it.

"Max!" Mabel shouted once some of the friends left. "Let's do karaoke!"

Max crossed his arms. It was close to two in the morning, and he was starting to get cranky. "No."

"Oh, come on," said Mason, slightly smiling. "Mabel's gonna force you to do it either way. You might as well agree to it and be able to pick the song."

"Kid," said Stan, taking a sip of Pitt Cola, "I've done it before. You can too." He elbowed his twin brother, who dug his head in his journal. "Right, Poindexter?"

"I'm not saying anything," answered Ford, starting to write faster.

"Please, Max?" Mabel gave Max puppy eyes while holding up her pig. "Just this once?"

Max grunted. "Fine. But I pick the song."

Mabel grinned and nodded repetitively. "Yes! Yes! Okay! What song?"

Max smiled. He always had his favorite 80's song. "'We Built This City'."

As the song started playing, Max took the lead. He held the microphone firmly as the tune rang out. While he was singing a verse, Mabel came in as harmony. Then, finally, Mason started singing on the chorus. All three of them sang out for the rest of the song, and Max was smiling. He was having fun. Before he knew it, the song was over.

Max opened his eyes as he heard as the four people who didn't participate clapped. He made a tiny but sincere smile.

"Whoo!" Mabel yelled. She picked Max up and into her arms. "Congrats! You're officially a member of Love Patrol Alpha!"

"I never agreed to that name," argued Mason.

 

"Well, time to get you back to the camp," said Mason, yawning. He checked his watch. "David doesn't wake you guys until six, right? It's five right now, so we better get going."

Max shrugged. "Sure. I guess." He let Mason take his hand as they were teleported back to the camp.

"Now, be good," said Mason as they walked to the tents. "I don't want to hear any trouble."

Max sneered playfully. "Oh, you will." As the tents were right in front of them, Max sighed. It was time for another day at camp.

"Mason?"

"Yeah?"

Max gave Mason a hug. "Th... thanks for everything."

Mason didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. He seemed a bit perplexed of what was happening, and he didn't know what to do for a second. Then, after a long silence, Mason hugged back.

"No problem, Max."

As Max watched Mason leave, he felt something that he had only felt once before: the previous evening. 

As he waved, he thought back to what David had said.

_"We'll be a happy little family, I promise!"_

Maybe promises did come true.


	16. Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I know that my updating is kinda inconsistent atm but there's kind of a lot going on, but schools gonna end in a few weeks so I might have more time then!  
> Also, I feel obligated to say that this fanfic will break off from the canon by the end of season 3. Yall probably already knew that but idk just felt like saying it.  
> Some other notes at the end of the chap! Enjoy!

Dipper wrote in his journal. The lantern he had put by his bed was barely bright enough for him to see, but he didn't try to relight it. He just kept writing.

Past his pages of the ghost he had been talking to recently, Dipper wrote pages worth of his thoughts. Thoughts he would never tell anyone. But he wrote them down.

_I feel like he's back again._

Dipper stopped with that line. He started feeling the hairs on his back rise. He couldn't just be paranoid, could he? Should he tell Mabel? Or Ford? Or, God forbid,  _David?_

 _No,_  he thought.  _I can't. I'm just being stupid, there's no way that he could be back again._ Dipper gave himself a panicky chuckle and smile. He was being stupid.

So, Dipper stopped writing. Trying to take away his nervousness, he turned off the lantern.

And he had a dream. Not a long one, but it was nonetheless concerning.

Dipper found himself in a forest. It was a familiar forest, and far in the distance, he heard the laughter of children as they played. He looked around, trying to find the children, but he saw none.

"D-Dipper?"

The boy looked behind him, the hairs on his back rising when he heard the familiar voice of a young boy, a tiny child, calling him. He looked behind at the trees. Then, behind the biggest pine there, Dipper saw a young boy with a yellow shirt. He wore Dipper's hat.

"Jasper?"

Then the laughing started.

"Pine Tree! Pine Tree!"

Dipper jumped. He stayed silent for a minute. The chanting grew louder.

"Pine Tree! Pine Tree!"

Then, a figure was standing in the distance. Standing would not be a good word to describe it as: the silhouette looked as if it were hobbling, with both knees huddled close to the other and the feet far apart. Dipper was too far to see anything but a dark shadow of the man, but the form made itself clear as to who it was: David!

The figure laughed and chanted. "Pine Tree! Pine Tree! Do you know where he is?"

As the voice got louder, Dipper could see the silhouette clearer. It wasn't David: it was Daniel! But something seemed off. The man grinned with a face that Dipper had only seen once before, almost two years ago.

_"Pine Tree!"_

It was none other than Bill Cipher. Dipper tried to run but it was too late. Daniel's cold hand gripped his arm with inhumane grip as Dipper screamed. The man lifted the boy up with no difficulty. In his peripheral vision, he could see Jasper, trying to stay out of sight.

"Pine Tree!" said Daniel's voice. "Pleasure to meet ya again! Wow, would it be crazy to say that I missed you?"

"Get away from me!" Dipper screamed. "Get away! Aren't you supposed to be dead?!"

"Supposed to be dead?" Daniel's form repeated. "Oh, where did you hear that, kiddo? Why, I'm almost alive! Just one more child. One more evening. And this world will be mine again." Daniel looked into Dipper's eyes, and Dipper could see his slitted pupils. "It'll be nice to kill you this time."

Daniel's body threw Dipper on the ground, and Dipper's nose started to bleed from the impact.

"Now," said Bill, "I know you've talked to him. Where is he?"

"Wh-who?" Dipper said.

"Oh, you know who!" Bill said, sharpening a knife. "Gears. Where is he? I know you've seen him."

Dipper was about to deny, but then he realized who Bill was talking about-he wanted Jasper! Dipper looked to where the spirit was before, but he didn't see anyone. Just a tree.

"I-I don't know. I wouldn't tell you if I did."

"Oh, I think you would," said Bill. He snapped Daniel's fingers, conjuring up an image of the kids at Camp Campbell. "There's a pretty camp across the lake," he said. Bill tilted the head and gave a threatening smile, not wasting any time to blink. "Would be a shame if something were to happen to it. Specifically-"-Bill snapped his fingers again, this time zooming in on David giving Max a hug- "to  _those_  two."

Dipper gasped. "You wouldn't."

"Pine Tree,  _please_ ," said Bill, waving a hand and making the image disappear. "you're being ridiculous. This is  _me_  we're talking about. Do you have any doubt I would do it?"

Dipper looked down. Bill was right. And Bill knew it.

"Great, we're finally on the same page," the demon said. "Two weeks, kid. That's all. One more child, and I can finally appear in the real world." Daniel went up to Dipper and put his arm around the boy's shoulder. It was cold as if the body had already died. "You're lucky this is a dream, kid."

 

Dipper gasped, waking up. He saw Mabel standing by his bed, looking concerned.

"Dipper?" she said, "are you okay? You started eating your shirt in your sleep."

"I-It's just-" Dipper didn't know where to start. What would he say? How would he even start to explain what he just saw? He sighed. "Nothing, Mabel."

Mabel didn't look very convinced. "I know you're lying to me but you're a real butt when you wake up, so talk to me later." She picked out a sweater from her bag and put it on over her T-shirt. "I'm gonna go see Paz. She's having trouble with her parents. They're starting to go a bit...  _wild_."

"Oh," said Dipper, not really processing much of the information he was being given. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

"I think it'll turn out fine," said Mabel, having Waddles hop into her arms. "But I've gotta help her. See ya!" Mabel shut the door to the attic as she left, leaving Dipper alone in the room. A single sunbeam hit his face, warming him up.

Dipper didn't know what to do. He just had to relax. So he tried calling David.

The phone rang for a bit before Dipper got a weak "Hello?"

"Hey, David," said Dipper, a bit sadly, "How's the camp?"

David hesitated. "It's going...  _great_ , Dipper."

"David? You sound a bit bad. Are you sick?"

"Yep. Just sick. One of those days. Only sickness. Nothing else. Nothing else happened, after all. Especially not yesterday." David answered quickly as if trying to hide something. But he was always a bad liar. Dipper didn't intend to get to the bottom of what it was.

"Okay. Get some rest."

"Dipper, I should ask you if you're okay. You don't sound well."

Dipper paused, remembering his dream.

"Dipper? Are you okay?"

With a long pause, Dipper said quietly, "Yes, David. I'm fine."

"Okay. I love you, Dipper."

"You too."

Before David could say anything else, Dipper hung up. He thought about what happened during his dream.

_"Just one more child..."_

_"Two weeks, kid..."_

_"It'll be nice to kill you this time."_

Dipper trembled. He must tell Ford. As he ran down the stairs to the basement, words kept spinning through his brain.

_"This world will be mine again."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I really have to say is to remember the Pacifica stuff. Without giving anything away I think I might make a spinoff at some point about Paz and some other peeps ;) but yea thats it thank


	17. New Friends, New Allies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep forgetting to say this for some reason, but I can't thank everyone enough for all the support I'm getting. I'm so happy you guys like this. I love writing it and I'm looking forward to future chapters! Love you all!

"You sure you actually want to do this?" Dipper asked Wendy as she put her flannel over her green shirt.

"No, of course I'm not," she retaliated. "But Soos started lowering my pay at the Shack and the job's gotten boring. And David will probably keep bugging me about this. Might as well get it over with."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense," Dipper decided, remembering that, since Wendy decided to quit working at the Mystery Shack, Soos had promised the job to him. "But why do you want to drive there? It's over two hours away!"

"Just feel like it," Wendy replied, stepping out of her room as Dipper followed. "I gotta take time to mentally prepare myself." She sighed. "As much as I don't like David for always asking me to do this, I kinda feel bad for saying no all the time. Even if he's annoying sometimes."

Dipper nodded, following Wendy out of the Corduroy cabin. He helped her carry a few bags into a run-down car, and then he got into the shotgun.

"Why do you want me to come with?" asked Dipper.

"I dunno," said Wendy. "I just need someone to talk to on the way there. You sure Mabel doesn't want to come?"

Dipper nodded. "Yeah. She said it was because Pacifica needed her."

Wendy furrowed her brows. "Paz has been talking to Mabel a lot lately, especially about her parents. Is she okay?"

Dipper sighed, buckling his seatbelt. "Only time will tell, I guess."

 

Pacifica was crying when she heard a knock on her bedroom window. "Come in," she sobbed, then hearing the window crack open.

"Pacifica! Are you okay?" Mabel's voice asked quietly. "I brought you a sweater and a few cookies I made today."

"Thanks, Mabel," Pacifica's voice cracked.  "I... appreciate it."

"What's wrong? You said you had something you needed to tell me."

Pacifica sighed. "My little sister."

Mabel thought she heard the girl wrong. "What?"

"My little sister?"

"Pacifica, you have a sister?!"

"Yes. But my parents don't...  _approve_  of her." Pacifica looked away from Mabel. "Every year, they send her to the Flower Scouts camp for her to learn how to mind her manners." Pacifica looked down. "But this year, something happened."

"What is it?" Mabel asked. "Why have I never heard about your sister?"

"My parents act like she doesn't exist. This year, she got into a fight and she lost her eye. My parents are mad about it, and..." Pacifica started choking on her sobs.

"Paz! What is it? What's going on?"

Pacifica spoke silently through her tears. "They... don't plan on coming back for her. I tried to tell them that it's wrong to do that, but they yelled at me."

Mabel hugged the other girl. "I'm so sorry. You shouldn't stay here right now. You can stay at the Shack with me and Dipper. It'll be better."

"But how will I make sure my parents don't know I'm gone?"

Mabel sighed. "I... don't know. I'll help you sneak out tonight. We'll get all your stuff and bring you to the Shack. Okay?"

Pacifica nodded. "Okay."

 

"Wendy! You're here!" David yelled, running up to the teenager. "And you brought Dipper with you, too! What a nice surprise!" David smiled at both of them. "Gwen is with the kids at the amphitheater. Gosh, she's so helpful!"

"Okay..." said Wendy, a bit confused by David's compliment about Gwen. "So... what exactly am I doing? When am I starting?"

"You'll start as soon as we unpack your stuff in the counselor's cabin! If you could help us with our next activity, that would be great!" David hugged his cousin again. "Gosh, I'm so happy you decided to help!"

"Yeah, no problem," murmured Wendy, trying to get away from David's grasp. "I'll go unpack my things. Dipper will help me."

Dipper looked at her. "Wait, what?"

Wendy gave a cold look and repeated once more, "Dipper will help me."

 

Wendy was greeted by Gwen and a bunch of kids when she came to the edge of the lake for the last activity of the day.

"Hey," said the counselor, "I'm Gwen, we might've met before, I don't know."

"I think we've met. I'm Wendy, David's cousin. He's been wanting me to get this job for a while."

"Great, now we have more help." Gwen took Wendy's arm and led her to a group of kids: one with a fishbowl on his head, the other with dark skin, glasses, and freckles, then a tall girl with a jacket and a crutch. "Wendy, you handle these three."

Wendy was about to so no or at least ask questions, but Gwen had already left. She looked for Dipper, but it seemed that he had left as soon as the two finished unpacking her stuff. She gazed down at the three children, all of them holding canoe paddles and looking up at her.

The boy with the fishbowl spoke first. "Are you new here?"

"Uh, sure," Wendy answered, not knowing what the best answer to the question was. "I'm Wendy, your junior counselor."

"Hark!" said a voice. It was the girl with the cape and glasses. She greeted Wendy with a smile. "I am Nerris the Cute, and I dwell in the castle of Campbellonia!"

She was a bit of a weird kid. But Wendy gave her a smile. "Hey, Nerris."

"You seem almost as cool as me," said the girl with the crutch. "I'm Ered."

"Nice to meet you, Ered," said Wendy, giving finger guns. She looked at the kid with the fishbowl on his head, who was now hitting his canoe paddle on top of his head. "So, uh, what's this kid's name?"

"Neil Armstrong, Jr., ma'am!" the boy stood up and have a salute.

"His name is Space Kid," said Nerris. 

"Okay, great. Space Kid. Thanks." Wendy gave a grin to Nerris and Ered. "Well, I guess we should get started. Canoes don't row themselves."

 

Dipper had left the camp as soon as he finished helping Wendy. He didn't tell anyone, and he hoped he wouldn't have to. This would only be a tiny meeting. All he had to do was find Jasper.

As he got to Spooky Island and headed towards the manor, he heard a familiar voice. "Hey there, homeskillet!" Dipper flinched but turned around and smiled.

"Oh. There you are. Good." Dipper looked at Jasper. "Look, we gotta talk."

Jasper's face somehow paled. His pupils shrank. "About what? What's malfunctioning, Dip?"

"Has anyone visited you here?" Dipper's voice was accusing, and the ghost shrunk in fear.

"No! Only some kids from Camp Campbell!"

Dipper scrunched his nose. "What kids?"

"Uh, I don't know!" the ghost panicked. He walked in circles, completely going through the trees that were in his way. "I don't remember! I'm not sure!"

Dipper looked suspiciously at him. Then, with a quiet voice, he said, "Can I have my hat back?"

The ghost's shoulders rose. "S-sure," he hesitated, focusing on taking the hat off. Dipper snatched it back and put it on his head.

"Listen, you're not safe here," he said. "If you see someone you don't recognize, don't talk to them. Okay?"

Jasper hesitated again, his hand covering his chest. "Okay."

"Good. Stay out of sight. Stay hidden. We can't let him find you." 

Without any other comments, Dipper left Spooky Island.

 

"Good job, Wendy!" said David. "Ered, Nerris, and Space Kid really love you! You seem to be quite the expert on canoeing if I do say so myself!"

Wendy nodded, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. "Yep, my dad always made me do it." She plopped down on her bed in the counselor's cabin.

"I bet you're gonna have a great day tomorrow!" David cheered. "We're doing lumberjack camp! I don't have much experience with it, and neither does Gwen, so we're gonna have you lead the activity tomorrow! It's gonna be a long one!"

Wendy groaned. "David, why? Canoeing is usually like an easy thing for me, but these kids make it seem like I'm going through Weirdmaggedon!"

"Going through what?"

She ignored the question. "I'm exhausted! I literally had to fight off an ocean monster today. I don't know if I can do this."

David sighed and spoke quietly. "Well, I guess if you're not enjoying camp, you can go back to Gravity Falls. I can find another person."

Wendy sat up. "No! David, no! I-I'll do this. It's just gonna take some time to get used to." She went over to her cousin and hugged him. "Look, I know I'm terrible to you sometimes, and you can get on my nerves, but you're a nice person. I know how much you want me to be here. I'll stay."

David gave Wendy a sad, tired smile. "Thanks, Wendy. You mean a lot to me, and I hope you know that." He gave a yawn. "It won't hurt to move lumberjack camp to Wednesday. Maybe we could get Dipper and Mabel to help us."

 

"And I'm just scared," said Dipper to Ford. Both were sitting at chairs in the basement, and Ford held up a clipboard and pen as Dipper talked. "It's not possible he could be back, right? It's just me being paranoid. It has to be."

Ford didn't answer. He looked down at his clipboard.

"...Great-uncle Ford? Is it possible?"

"Well," started Ford slowly, "It's... theoretically possible. Do you know these two people outside of the dream?"

"Yes. The ghost's name is Jasper. He lives on an island near David's camp. The guy possessed by Bill is Daniel. He's Gideon's uncle. I wouldn't be surprised if he summoned Bill."

Ford thought. "If he's Gideon's uncle, it is likely that Gideon told him how to summon him. We should check up on that as soon as possible. Gideon barely comes outside, so we will have to meet him in his house." Ford looked at Dipper gravely. "We need to catch Bill. He may have been strong last time, but now he knows what to expect. He's making new allies. We can't afford him coming into our world again."

Dipper thought of Weirdmaggedon. The terror of the time came back to him. His spine tingled and the hairs on his neck rose in fear. 

Bill had to be stopped. And Dipper wanted to be the one to stop him.


	18. One More Soul (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm so happy to update this again!
> 
> This is part one of a three (or maybe four)- part story. From what I planned out, the next chapter of this fic won't be part two of this, and it'll come right after that.

Dipper woke up from another dream, similar to the one he had before. As these started to become more and more recurring, Dipper felt more and more worried. Was Jasper okay? Was Daniel still out there? Just the night before, Dipper and Ford were talking about what to do next. They had decided to wait to contact Gideon until both of them were there. But Dipper couldn't wait.

Not caring about waking Mabel or Pacifica, Dipper raced out of the attic, struggling to put on his jacket as he launched himself down the stairs. In just a few moments, he was outside, running through the woods that were all too familiar to him. He ran and ran until he saw what he was looking for: a tiny house with a black gate in front. Not thinking, Dipper jumped over the gate and knocked on the door loudly.

"Open up! Open up!"

All was silent for a moment except for Dipper's pounding and yelling. Then, suddenly, the door to the house opened, and Dipper fell on the edge of the floor due to the sudden lack of a spot to land his hands. He looked up and saw a kid with messy hair and pale blue eyes. In the faint moonlight, the tiny boy almost looked like a ghost.

"Dipper?" The boy's voice was soft but panicked. Dipper looked up at him, glowering.

"Gideon. I've got some things to ask you."

At hearing this, the young boy tried to slam the door shut, but Dipper blocked in with his hand. "I know what you did. Now _let me in."_

Frightened, the young boy gulped and let Dipper in. The indoors were quiet and blue, with no sort of voice anywhere in ear range. Staying quiet, Gideon sat down on the couch, and Dipper sat parallel.

"Why did you tell him how to summon Bill?" Dipper's voice bit.

"How do you-"

 _"Why?"_  Dipper spat.

"I don't know," panicked Gideon. "He just asked me and I wanted to impress him and show him how smart I was-"

"Do you know what we could have to go through to stop Bill  _again?"_

Gideon's eyes didn't blink. They just stood, staring.

"Dipper, I didn't really think-"

"Do you understand?!" Dipper was yelling. He felt like he had no control. His body stood up, pointing at the younger boy. "Do you understand what I've had to go through?! Bill could have killed us all! Bill nearly killed my family! You have no  _fucking_  excuse!"

Dipper's watershed sparked a silence between both of them. Gideon sat, eyes small and beginning to water, until he finally answered in less than a whisper.

"I understand."

Dipper's voice was soft again, still not believing what had come out of his mouth. "Why did you do it?"

"I don't know."

"You have no clue?"

"He's my uncle. I couldn't just say no to him!"

Dipper came closer to Gideon. "We're in danger. The world's in danger. Bill's not gonna fall for the same tricks as last time." Dipper looked down, chewing on his fingernail. "I... don't blame you, Gideon, I just expected better."

Without another word, Dipper left.

 

Jasper sat on the rock, not knowing what to do. All he could think about were Dipper's last words:  _Stay out of sight. Stay hidden. We can't let him find you._

Looking out on the lake, Jasper wondered what the boy meant. Who was this person? Why was he hiding? What was so bad about this?

However, there was not much left to say. Jasper kept looking at the lake, at the night sky, and then back at himself. The days before had been tough. Ever since trying to contact Davey, Jasper felt a bit uneasy. He had told those three kids to apologize for him, but something still didn't feel right.

_Stay out of sight. Stay hidden. We can't let him find you._

The words repeated in his head, again and again, until Jasper couldn't stand it anymore. Rain started to pour. Thunder crashed on the lake. The night sky stood still, and the tiny vision of Camp Campbell in the distance was barely visible. His mind went back to before. Before he died. Before he lost his badge. Before Camp Campbell.

_Stay out of sight. Stay hidden._

Memories poured into Jasper's brain like acidic rain. The punched him in his nonexistent gut. Thoughts of his sister and his old friends, his old town and his parents. What was going on there, now? What was it called again?

_Stay out of sight._

The memories became so vivid that Jasper's eyes began to widen, and he could almost feel nonexistent tears going down his intangible cheeks. He tried to stop thinking. Stop thinking, stop thinking, but his mind kept going. He thought of how he would never see his sister, his old friends, or possibly Davey after this summer. He wanted to go back. Go back to when his life was normal. Go back to before everything changed. Go back, go back, go back...

_Stay..._

The air whistled. The rain poured. The thunder roared louder than he had ever heard it. And yet, instead of feeling in danger or distress, he felt...  _tired_. He hadn't felt tired ever since he died. Were ghosts supposed to be tired?

Then, he closed his eyes.

 

_Jasper fixed his hair in his bedroom mirror with a comb, making sure that every strand was perfect. He left his room in his best outfit and decided to go outside. However, his mother came up to him, holding his baby sister. She was only about two years old._

_"Jasper, I need you to watch over your sister while I do my makeup," she said. She was always obsessed with her makeup. Her face. Jasper huffed._

_"Mom, I-" His mother rang a bell from her pocket. His ears pierced from the noise, and he sighed. "Yes, mother." He took his baby sister in his arms, and she stuck out her tongue at him._

_When his mother was out of sight, Jasper sighed and looked at the young girl. "Sometimes I think Mom and Dad are crazy. I can't believe them sometimes." The little girl only looked at him and plunged her hand into his nose. He groaned. "Oh, lay off!" He placed the girl down and exited the mansion._

_As soon as he exited the gates, he was nearly run over by some sort of tricycle. He rolled his eyes, already knowing whose kid it was._

_"Jasper! Jasper!" the little girl said. She stuck out her tongue. Her pigtails of red hair were knotted and messy. Jasper rolled his eyes. He didn't want to talk to her. She was merely a lumberjack's daughter! She was disgusting. But no matter what he did, she would always come and find him again._

_He groaned loudly. "Ugh. What do you want, Wendy?"_

_"My cousin's staying at my house!" she said, licking a lollipop in her hand. "He's the same age as you!"_

_"What makes you think that I care?"_

_"You should meet him!"_

_"Uh, absolutely not. Get out of my way."_

_Jasper walked away from the young girl and traveled around town. As he did, he thought. Maybe Wendy was right: maybe he should go meet her cousin. After all, what bad could come from that?_

_What could ever come from that?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tired rip


	19. The Summerween Social

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna try to finish this chapter earlier, but I'm so glad I didn't because apparently June 22nd is the actual day of Summerween! That's a good coincidence!  
> Happy Summerween and enjoy!

"Sorry, David, we'd love to stay, but we have something planned for tonight," said Dipper, helping David carry in the last of the decorations into the mess hall.

"That's a shame," he said. "I think all of the campers adore you and Mabel, and that would have been fun!" David's fingers drummed on a table. Dipper sensed his nervousness.

"What's wrong?" he asked. David was usually not this tense. The man's shoulders stood straighter than usual.

 "Oh, I'm just trying to make this party fun for everyone," David answered giving a weak smile. "Wendy is guiding the other camps to here, and I think she plans to take the night off. That's fine, since I can always rely on Gwen." He sighed, giving a tired smile. "Gwen's such a great person, I really love her..."

Thrown off and confused by these words, Dipper gave an awkward smile. "Well... sure."

"I hope you and Mabel have a wonderful time at the Shack. I might call if I need anything. Okay?"

Dipper nodded. "Of course."

"And Dipper?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay safe tonight. I'm going to tell your grunkles not to let you and Mabel stay out after midnight."

"David!" Dipper complained. "I know how to take care of myself!"

David gave a small smile. "Oh, okay. How about two?"

"Why not all night?"

David ruffled the child's hair. "You're fourteen, Little Dipper. It's not healthy."

"It's for one day."

David chuckled. "Two AM. I will be calling Ford. Stay safe, Little Dipper."

Dipper sighed and left the room, leaving David alone until Gwen came into the Mess Hall. She was holding her large mug of coffee and looked at David. He smiled widely.

"Gwen! We're just about ready for tonight!"

Gwen groaned. "Ugh, I almost was having a good day. Why can't your cousin help us out during the party?"

"She's only seventeen, Gwen. She needs a break! She's just a kid."

"Okay, fine. Maybe the kids will behave tonight. Maybe they'll have fun. Maybe something good will happen."

"Precisely!"

"Well, I guess I have to be positive, don't I."

David wrapped his arm around Gwen's shoulder. "Good thinking, Gwen! A little positivity won't hurt!"

"I guess you're right. Maybe if I'm lucky, someone will get a crush."

David tilted his head. "If you get lucky...?"

"Uh, yeah," Gwen said, as if it were obvious. "That would totally make this thing better. Spicing things up."

A bit confused, David shrugged. "If that's what makes you happy, think of that!"

"I will," said Gwen. "I definitely will."

 

"All I'm saying is that it might help you," said Mabel. "You just need to party! Dance your heart out tonight! Please?"

Pacifica looked down at her sleeping bag, still on the floor of the attic. She had been staying there for over a week now, and things still hadn't gotten better.

"Paz, I'm  _begging_ you," urged Mabel, "Just tonight. It's summerween! We're having a party at the Shack, and you shouldn't be left out."

The blonde untensed her shoulders. "Fine. Only for a bit."

Before she could process it, Pacifica was being trampled by Mabel and Waddles. Mabel squealed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

A knock pounded on the attic door. Both girls faced the door, saying in unison, "Come in."

Dipper came into the attic, taking off his navy blue jacket, showing his red plaid.

"Howdy, Dipper!" Mabel said. "How was David and Wendy?" She snickered. "And  _Gwen?"_

"They're all doing fine," said Dipper. He dug in his jean pocket, fishing out five dollars and handing it to Mabel. She looked at him, confused.

"What's this for?"

"The bet."

In an instant, Mabel's face was smiling with joy and she was squealing again. "Yes! I knew it! In your face, Dip!"

"What? What bet?" Paz asked. Dipper sighed, scratching his back.

"A while ago, Mabel said that she thought David had a crush on Gwen. I told her that he didn't, so we made a bet." Dipper looked at his feet, grumbling, "and I guess I lost it."

"I knew it! This is so cute! Did he tell you? What did he say?"

Dipper rubbed his arm. "He didn't tell me. I don't even think he knows. But the way he talks about her..." He shook his head. "You're right, Mabel."

Mabel proudly stuffed the money into her sweater. "Thank you, Dip. I always knew. It's time to start planning the wedding! I'm going to be Gwen's maid of honor, and you'll be the best man, and-"

"Mabel, we have a party to work on downstairs. Remember?"

The girl chuckled. "Oh yeah, right. Let's go!"

 

Wendy groaned as she rowed the boat out to the Flower Scout camp. She was a lumberjack's daughter, and she was tough and all, but if there was one thing outdoors she didn't like to do, it was boating. But here she was, rowing a large boat out to a girls' camp on another side of the lake to take them to Camp Campbell.

 _Relax,_ she said to herself as she came closer.  _After this, David said you could take a break for the rest of the night. Maybe you can convince Dipper to bring you back to Gravity Falls. After all, nothing strange can happen over here._

But when she saw the Flower Scouts, her opinion slightly changed.

There were three of them waiting outside of the camp, one of them with pink hair, another with blue hair, and a blonde one with an eye patch. They looked like your typical valley girls, and Wendy thought nothing of it.

"Hey, kids," she said. "You all must be the flower scouts. I'm Wendy, and I work for Camp Campbell. I'll be taking you there."

The one with pink hair gave a loud groan. "In that nasty boat? Ew!"

"It's, like, covered in dirt," agreed the blonde.

"Yeah, it's gross," complied the one with blue hair.

Wendy sighed. "Look, I know that all of you have very high standards, but I washed it off as well as I could after I took the Woodscouts to the camp."

"But it looks nasty," complained the blonde. 

Wendy was losing her patience. "Either get in now, or you're not going to the dance."

All three girls looked down and rubbed their arms. "Okay."

"Great, now get in. We're going to Camp Campbell." As Wendy started rowing off onto the lake, the three girls chattered among themselves. The teenager couldn't help but listen to some of it.

"There better be a prom queen. I know that I'm gonna win." The pink girl crossed her arms, and the blonde gasped.

"Oh! I seriously wanna be prom queen!"

"Uh, no, Tabii. You're, like, a loser."

Tabii? The name struck a bell in Wendy's mind, but she didn't know where it came from. She shrugged it off and kept listening.

"Honestly?" said Tabii, the one with the eye patch, "Who's gonna compete against me? DnD girl? The Campbell lady?"

There was a silence in  the boat until the pink one answered, "Me, bitch."

Despite the manner of what was said that made Wendy silently chuckle, she still felt weird. Hadn't Pacifica said something like that before? Curiosity overwhelmed her.

"Hey, Tabii," she said without looking to the back of the boat. They were halfway across the lake.

"Uh, yeah?"

"What's your full name?"

"Tabii Lucille Northwest! Everyone knows that." Wendy's face was a bit pale. Memories started coming back to her. She remembered when she was little, maybe around eight years old, when Priscilla Northwest had her second child. It was a baby girl named Tabii. But after a couple of years, the fact that Pacifica even had a sibling of any sort was unknown. She had wondered where the child had gone.

"Uh? Miss?" said the pink one, her hands on her hips, "Aren't you, like, gonna ask me for my name?"

"S-sure," said Wendy, not paying much attention.

"Good. My name is Sasha."

"I'm Erin," said the one with blue hair.

"Erin, nobody asked or cares."

"Sorry, I'm dumb." Erin apologized.

 

Wendy was out in the woods during her break that evening. She didn't want to go to Gravity Falls, after finding Pacifica's seemingly long-lost younger sister. She wanted to be alone. But of course, some kid would always come up and ruin that for her.

"Good evening, motherfucker," said a familiar voice. Wendy rolled her eyes and turned to face the boy.

"What do you want, Max? Why aren't you in the Mess Hall?"

"At the Summer Social? Wendy,  _please."_ The ten-year-old gave Wendy a cheerful smirk. "That shit's boring. So Nikki and I want you to help us."

"With what?" Suddenly, something knocked Wendy onto the ground. Nikki sat on top of her back.

"We wanna go to your place!" she said. "Didn't you say there are monsters where you live?"

"Well, I mean, yeah-"

"We wanna get one and bring it back here!"

Wendy pushed Nikki off of her back and sighed. "Look, kids, as much as I'd love for you two to cause more mayhem at the camp, there's an event happening over there. People are busy."

"Oh, come on, Wendy!" Max smiled. "The people there love me! And I'm sure Mabel would be happy if you brought us over!"

Wendy groaned. She didn't want to do this, but she didn't have enough energy to argue with the two kids. "Fine," she said. "I'll text Dipper and have him come over. We can all go there together. But don't tell David, got it?"

Max made a hand gesture of zipping his lips and throwing out the key. Wendy smiled and did the same.

 

"Wendy! I can't believe you came!" gasped Mabel, waving her arms in the air. "And you brought Max and Nikki!"

"Where's Neil?" asked Dipper. "I mean, you three are all friends, right?"

"He's busy," Nikki snickered. 

Max had already stolen Mabel's phone and started scrolling through her Instagram. "Yeah, he's got a crush on some girl; he's tryna dance with her or whatever."

"Oh, Dipper, that sounds like you!" Mabel squealed. "Remember when you had a crush on Wendy and you tried to ask her to dance?"

Nikki started cackling. "Wait, isn't Wendy your cousin now?" She and Max looked between Wendy and a furiously blushing Dipper.

"Look, I was just, uh... unlucky, okay?" Dipper scratched his back and smiled nervously.

"Well, guys," said Mabel, "happy Summerween!"

Max and Nikki both looked confused. "Happy what?" Max asked.

"Happy Summerween!" Mabel repeated. "This town loves Halloween so much that they made it in the summer!"

Nikki gave a ferocious smile. "So you mean there will be candy? Do we get to dress up? I'm gonna dress up as Max! I'll pretend like we swapped bodies! MAX! Do you know how to dye hai-"

"No, no, no," said Dipper, before things could get more out of hand, "You're not dressing up as Max. We already have some costumes ready."

"Wait, how did you know we were coming?" asked Max. Dipper shrugged.

"They thought you two would try to come with me," answered Wendy. She looked around the Shack, seeing some of her friends. "Oh! I need to go talk to my friends. Have a nice time, and still don't tell David!"

 

"...and here are your costumes!" Mabel said, showing Max and Nikki a closet. "Look! A ninja for Nikki, and a... um..." Mabel stopped, but Max finished her sentence for her.

"A devil," he said. "Thanks, Mabe." He put on the tail and horns that were given to him.

Mabel handed it to him. "You two should thank Grunkle Ford! He's somehow a great costume designer! And Waddles helped too!"

"Who's Waddles? Where is he? What does he want?!" Nikki looked around.

"He's my pig!" Mabel lifted Waddles up. Nikki gasped.

"He's amazing!" Nikki made oinking sounds with her nose, and Waddles made noises back. She looked up at Mabel. "He says he likes you. Gross!"

Mabel gasped. "You can speak pig?! Oh my stars, you need to teach me!"

"Maybe some other time, but I've got business to do." Nikki grabbed her ninja outfit. "Now, tell me about summerween. Do you get candy?"

"Of course!"

Nikki smiled deviantly. "Oooh, did you hear that, Max? This'll be way better than the summer social!"

"Sure, maybe it will," Max said, "but we still need to figure out what we should do to cause trouble over there at the end of the night."

"I don't know if I should be telling you this," said Mabel, "but I think David said something about fireworks before. You should ask him to set them off!"

Max and Nikki exchanged mischievous looks. "Oh, of course we'll  _ask_!" Max said, with a smug smile that Mabel didn't seem to catch on to.

"Great! I'll take both of you out to go trick-or-treating, and then I'll send you back with Wendy. Deal?"

"Deal!"

 

"Look, it's nice seeing you guys again," Wendy said. "My job sucks. I watch over kids at the camp my cousin works at." She looked down at her drink. "I have these three kids especially, they're all kind of weird."

"Your cousin sounds like an idiot," Robbie said, crossing his arms.

"Hey," argued Wendy, "only  _I'm_ allowed to say that about him. Also, Dipper and Mabel." Wendy looked across the room, seeing Pacifica, and realizing the weird...  _coincidence_ that had happened earlier on that evening. She gave a dismissing wave at her friends. "Hold on a sec, I'll be right back.

She walked up cautiously to the blonde, then saying, "Hey, Paz."

Pacifica looked up, a bit shocked. "Oh, hi, Wendy. What are you doing here? Don't you work at David's camp?"

Wendy nodded. "Yeah, but... I got to leave early today. There was a party with the neighboring camps. Speaking of which..." Wendy could see Pacifica's face turn pale, but her curiosity was too high to stop now. "Do you... have a sister?"

The blonde didn't answer for a long time. She looked up at Wendy, her blue eyes seemingly paler than usual, matching the color of her face. An almost invisible tear rolled down one of her cheeks. "How..." she started in a whisper, "how did you find out?"

"She's a Flower Scout, isn't she?" Wendy said, starting to piece things together. "The one with only one eye. Your parents don't like her looks. And why would they? With that ugly eye patch that she never takes off. They've abandoned her, pretended she wasn't part of the family for years now, haven't they?"

Pacifica's face was one of horror, but she slowly nodded, agreeing in a small voice, "...Yes. They have."

Wendy gave Paz a firm look. "You know what?"

"What?"

Wendy didn't answer Pacifica directly. Instead, she called, "Max! Nikki! We're going back to camp! I have some investigating to do!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, before I continue on with this, I do wanna say that I headcanon David as asexual. I don't know if he'll ever explicitly say that in this fic, since I highly doubt he knows that word exists, but I'm doing my best to write him as one.


	20. The Investigation

The night was quiet as Dipper slept, but Mabel was still up. In the middle of that night, in the middle of knitting a new sweater, she looked around, making sure that Dipper was asleep. When she had made sure, she called in a whisper tone to Pacifica, who was on the floor of the attic in her sleeping bag.

"Coast is clear."

Pacifica sat up, scratching her eyes drowsily. "Right. We decided to leave tonight. What are we gonna do?"

"We need to get Dipper's teleporter. I think he always keeps it in his hat. Now, where-" She looked by Dipper's bed, where his hat was, right between his arms. She grinned. "Great! Now we just need to get it out without him waking up." Mabel looked at the blonde. "Do you want to do the honor?"

The blonde grinned, slowly reaching toward the hat. Suddenly, Dipper yawned and murmured. Pacifica and Mabel looked to one another, both frozen in place, but the young boy immediately went quiet again. Pacifica continued reaching for the teleporter, getting it away from Dipper's hat.

"Got it!" she said in a triumphant whisper. "You take us there. We're meeting Wendy there, right?"

"Right," said Mabel. She took the teleporter and put in Camp Campbell as the destination. In a swift gust, the two girls found themselves at a campground. Pacifica looked around in the dark.

"So this is the camp that David works at?" She took steps toward the path to the counselor cabin. "Looks... rowdy."

"It's such a nice place!" Mabel mused. "All of the campers are so sweet!"

Pacifica peered at Mabel. "Didn't one of them call you in the middle of the night just to curse about David?"

Mabel chuckled. "Oh, you mean Max. He's a nice kid."

"Uh, okay," said a confused blonde. "Whatever. Where's Wendy? She's bringing us there, right?"

"Yeah, I am," said a voice from the trees. Both girls looked up to see a redhead sitting in the branches of a pine tree. She fell down from the branches, landing on her feet and greeting the two. "We going to Spooky Island?"

"No!" said Mabel. "Wendy, we went over this!"

"I asked you what was going on and you sent me a bunch of pictures of Waddles."

"Oh." Mabel giggled. "He was cute in that dress."

"So, Mabel and I will be going to the Flower Scouts camp," said Pacifica, taking charge as Mabel looked at pictures of Waddles on her phone, "and we're gonna... see my sister. Do you want to come with us?"

Wendy shook her head. "Sorry, I have other stuff I want to investigate."

"Like what?"

Wendy shrugged. "Memories. Maybe you'll find out later."

As the three got in a canoe, they all looked around the lake. On one side, there was a nice little camp on a far shore. The other side looked like hell. And, right in the middle, there was an island, covered in mist and fog.

"I'll bring you two to the Flower Scouts camp," Wendy said. "Does she know you two are coming? Do you need to find a way to get in?"

Pacifica, who was previously texting on her phone, looked up. "We should be able to get in."

"Okay, good. I'll have my phone ready in case anything happens. Text me when you two want to leave, okay?"

"Actually, we could just take the teleporter home," said Pacifica. Mabel smiled and nodded.

"We're gonna do that!"

Wendy gave a nod. "Good. Take your time, then."

They reached the gate to the Flower Scouts campground. The grass was greener, the flowers sparkled in the dim moonlight, and everything looked perfect. The gate was supposed to be closed at this hour, but if you looked closely enough, the lock was unlatched. Pacifica and Mabel said their goodbyes to Wendy and crept in.

The camp was quiet at this time of night, and the two girls had no trouble sneaking over to the cabin where they would find what they were looking for.

"You sure this is the right one?" Mabel asked.

Pacifica nodded. "Of course. I checked over and over."

With fear and anxiety that seemed to come from nothing, Pacifica softly knocked on the door. She heard a girl groan and yell, "Like, come in!"

The blonde opened the door, showing a one-roomed cabin with three beds, each with a girl in them. The first one had a blue-haired girl tucked in tightly, asleep. The second one had a girl with pink hair, sitting with her legs crossed, and her looking pissed. Then, the third one...

"Tabii!" Pacifica yelled. She ran over to the other blonde, who said nothing but returned the hug. After holding it for almost a minute, Pacifica looked down at the nine-year-old, giving a sad smile. "How are you?"

The little girl have a smile. "I'm good! I, like have so many new friends!"

"So, like," said the pink girl, "who the fuck are you two?"

"Sasha, we've, like, talked about this!" Tabii said. "This is my sister Pacifica, and this is her friend..." Tabii looked up at Mabel. "Yeah, like, who are you?"

"I'm Mabel! I'm Paz's friend!"

"Woah, like, quiet down," said Sasha bluntly, "Erin's sleeping, you know."

 "Oh," Mabel said in a loud whisper. "Okay!"

"First things first, Tabii," said Pacifica. "For starters, how about you tell us how you lost your eye?"

 

As she reached the shore to Spooky Island, Wendy took a photo from her pocket. It was an old one, the corners starting to bend forward and the picture fading away from the years of sunlight it had seen before. On the picture, there were six figures; Campbell; the Quartermaster; two counselors and two children. The kids in the photo had parallel expressions. One, a redhead, gave a happy smile and the Camp Campbell salute. The other had his arms crossed, looking at the ground.

Wendy barely remembered anything about the second child until seeing Tabii. How much of her memory seemed to have faded from her? Was it that easy to forget? When she saw Tabii, she remembered another, who went to camp with David all those years ago. After the party, she had asked about it to Max, who was likely to know if something was up.

Max scratched his back uncomfortably at the question. "Uh, what's his name?"

"I think..." Wendy thought. "Jasper! Jasper Northwest."

"Ah, shit," Max complained. He said. "Don't tell David, but I've seen that kid."

 _Kid?_ Wendy thought. But she asked, "Why shouldn't I tell David? And where is he?"

"Spooky Island." Before Wendy could ask for more answers, Max went into his tent, sticking out his middle finger as a good night signal.

With that days-old conversation in mind, Wendy walked through the island. "Where could he be..." she murmured. What would the guy even look like now? That was at least ten years ago.

Suddenly, she heard a rustling in the bushes. "Who's there?" Wendy yelled, taking out her ax and having it guard her body. "I know how to fight; you might as well come out!"

"Woah there, bromide," said a voice. The rustle in the bushes continued as a young boy came into Wendy's vision. "I don't mean to hurt you."

Wendy was wide-eyed. She looked from the picture to the boy repeatedly, starting to shake. "Wait..."

"What's wrong?" asked the boy. "Did I scare you? Gosh, man, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"No, no, no," she said quickly. "Not you. Me." Wendy didn't know how to collect her words. "Jasp... Jasper?"

The boy took a step back. "Do-do I know you?"

"Wendy!" she exclaimed. "Wendy Corduroy. Do you remember me?"

The boy's eyes stopped, and his mind seemed to be trying to contemplate what was going on. "Wendy... Corduroy..." he then nodded after a silence. "I- I do. You're Davey's cousin." He looked down. "Long time, no see, homeskillet. I didn't think I'd see you again. You've..." he stopped, looking for the right word. "Grown."

"What's going on?" Wendy said. "Jasper, what-what happened?!"

Jasper looked at his feet, clutching his elbow and shifting his balance. "Nobody told you, huh? I'm dead, Wendy. I'm a ghost."

 

"So that's what happened!" Mabel exclaimed. "Oh, I'm so sorry! But on the bright side, you still look pretty!"

"Uh, no, she doesn't," said Sasha, looking at her nails. "She's ugly."

Pacifica snarled. "What did you say?"

"I said she was-" Sasha looked up, her face paling when she met eyes with Pacifica. "Oh. Nothing."

"That's what I thought."

"Uh, Pacifica?" said Tabii, looking down nervously, "Am I... staying here when the summer ends?"

"Absolutely not! This camp ends at the end of summer, Tabs. You shouldn't stay."

"But weren't mom and dad saying they would make me stay?" The little girl didn't look up. She sobbed. "They think I'm too ugly. That's what it's about, right?"

"Tabii. Look at me." Pacifica kneeled down, placing a hand on her crying sister's shoulder. "You're not staying here when summer ends. You're gonna come with me."

"To home?"

Pacifica nodded hesitantly. "Yes. To home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy I finally got to write Tabii!


	21. Allies and Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who’s back!!! With another chapter!!! After like over a month!!! I’m so happy to be writing this again!
> 
> Sorry if this chapter is formatted differently than the previous ones. I’m on mobile lol

"Do you know what's gonna happen when the summer's over?" Mabel asked Pacifica as they came back to the attic, where Dipper still slept. "If your parents don't take her..." she stopped for a few moments then continued, "What's going to happen?"

 

Pacifica didn't answer. She didn't even look at Mabel. Then, softly, she said, "I don't know. I have to find something to do. I can't have her stay there. If I don't watch out for her, she will be abandoned!"

 

"What will your parents do if you take her? Will they... be mad?"

 

Silence. Then a soft, "I don't know. We'll see."

 

With no further words or expressions, Pacifica crawled into her sleeping bag until her head wasn't visible. After minutes of wrestling in the bag, her body stood still and quiet.

 

Mabel wanted to go to sleep, but something was keeping her awake. The more she closed her eyes, the more they itched to stay open. Finally, she gave up. She needed to do something! So, with her sweater in one hand and the teleporter in the other, she decided to go back to the camp.

 

As the night started to turn pink, Mabel subconsciously grabbed something out of her pockets. From the texture, she could tell what they were: they were old silly bands that she had kept in her pockets in case she got bored. She smiled and put them on her wrists.

 

"Now, where should I go?" she asked herself. "I know! I should say hi to Max! He'll have something to talk about!"

 

She walked toward the campers' tents in the dark, but soon heard a voice.

 

"Mabel?" It was Wendy. She looked tired, with her hair looking messy and her eyes having deep circles under them. She walked toward Mabel.

 

"Wendy! What are you doing up? Did you just get back to camp?"

 

Wendy hesitated, then gave a reluctant, "...yeah. What are you doing here?"

 

"I just felt like coming. I can't sleep. Say, what did you find on Spooky Island? Anything?"

 

The redhead stood as if asking if this would be okay to tell. Then, she said, "Yes. Maybe I should... show you."

 

 

 

 

Though the morning was coming, Mabel had kept all of the energy that she had through the night. She was excited for whatever Wendy had to show her. Whatever it was, it couldn't be bad, right?"

 

When they got to the island, where it was still dark with rain clouds though no rain came, Wendy looked around.

 

"What now?" asked Mabel, playing with her silly bands.

 

"Just a second," Wendy said. "I need to find him." Him?

 

"O... kay?" What-or who-was Wendy looking for?

 

Finally, Wendy gave a shout. It was one word, like a name. "Jasper!"

 

Mabel heard a rustle in the bushes behind her. She turned around, seeing a small boy poking his head out. When he saw her and Wendy, he cautiously came out.

 

"Wendy?" he questioned, "you called my name?"

 

Wendy nodded. "Yep. I want you to meet someone. This is my friend, Mabel."

 

The boy tilted his head, but he smiled. "Hey there, Mabel! Say, you look like someone I've met! Kid named Dipper, I think!"

 

Mabel and Wendy looked at each other, confused. "Wait, you've met Dipper?"

 

The boy paled. "Oh, gosh. I wasn't supposed to say that, was I?" He put his hands on his head. "He didn't want me to talk to anybody. Gosh, are you two bad?"

 

"What? No, no, no." Wendy went up to the boy, about to put her hands on his shoulders to relax him. But her hand went through his body.

 

Mabel couldn't stay silent. She was too confused. "Wait, what's going on? Is anybody going to explain anything?"

 

Now, the boy tried to calm down, for Mabel's sake. "Well, I'm, uh, sorry, but uh, my name's Jasper. I'm a ghost and I live here." He put his hand through his intangible body to prove it.

 

"Jasper?" Mabel repeated. That name sounded familiar. It sounded like....

 

"I think David's mentioned a Jasper before," she said. Wendy gave a tiny shake of her head, showing that this wasn't a good thing to say.

 

This was also proven by Jasper's look. His pupils shrank and he fidgeted with his fingers.

 

"D-Davey? You... you know him?" He looked at Mabel, starting to shake.

 

There was no way of really getting out of this by lying. So Mabel told the truth, despite Wendy's disapproval. "Yes. He's my dad."

 

Jasper shook his head slightly, repeating it as he softly mumbled, "No. No, no, nonono. It hasn't passed that quickly, has it? How long has it been? Wendy?" He looked at Wendy, tears forming in his eyes. He brushed them off.

 

Mabel rushed to his side. "No! It's not like that! I'm adopted and so is my brother!" She put her hands on his shoulders and was surprised when they didn't slip through his body. "How long ago did it happen?" she asked.

 

"That's what I wanna know." He looked back at Wendy, hanging his head low. "Well?"

 

"About..." Wendy counted in her head. "Ten, maybe eleven years."

 

"Okay." He closed his eyes, trying to steady himself. "What about my sister?"

 

"Actually..." Wendy said, "You have... two now."

 

"Wait, what?" His eyes shot open. "I have two?! How are they? Are they okay?" Then, his voice was softer. "What's her name?"

 

"Her name's Tabii." Jasper, for once that night, smiled. But Mabel was even more confused.

 

"Wait, but that's Pacifica's sister's name!" And then she realized. She turned to Jasper. "Wait, you're Pacifica's brother? But—"

 

"I'm older than her," he explained. "I went to Camp Campbell as a kid. And I died while I was there. And now I'm stuck here."

 

"She's never mentioned an older brother," Mabel said. "And she barely mentioned Tabii before a couple weeks ago."

 

"Did they..." Jasper looked down at his shoes. "F...forget about me?"

 

"But how could they forget about you?" Mabel asked. "The entire town!"

 

"Forget..." Wendy mumbled, then shooting up with a jolt of realization. "Mabel! Pacifica's parents made everyone forget!"

 

"But... how?" Mabel knew how, even if she didn't want to admit it. Wendy grit her teeth.

 

"The Society."

 

Wendy and Mabel decided what to do in a matter of glances. And they wished Jasper a goodbye.

 

"We'll come back soon," Wendy promised. "And we'll try to fix things."

 

Jasper held his arm in his hand, tightly hugging it. To try and make him feel better, Mabel kneeled down and put her hands on his shoulders.

 

"We'll solve all of this, Jaspy," she said. But the ghost's vision went toward Mabel's wrist. Specifically, at her silly bands.

 

"Wha... what are those?" He asked her. She grinned.

 

"They're silly bands! They're shaped like animals and other stuff, and you put them on your wrists!" At this, Jasper smiled.

 

"Can I...?" He looked up at Mabel for permission, and she nodded. Jasper took the silly bands off of her wrist, putting them on his. And they stayed there.

 

"We'll see ya, Jasp," said Wendy, giving some sort of salute. Mabel waved as they used the teleporter and were gone in a flash. Jasper sighed, not know what to think. Dipper had told him not to talk to anyone, but Wendy and Mabel were nice! He was probably just paranoid.

 

"Oh, Jasper!" Called a singsong voice. He had never heard this one before. Jasper looked behind him, seeing a tall man dressed in all white. He looked normal, and even like David, except that his eyes were somewhat unsettling.

 

"Who's there?" Jasper asked.

 

"Well, that's an interesting question!" answered the man. "This body belongs to Daniel. Kool Aid, as I like to call him. But as for me, I am Bill Cipher! I'm friends with those people you've met!"

 

Was this some sort of demon? Jasper was hesitant. "How do I know you're their friend?"

 

"Because I am willing to give you a deal!" Daniel —no, Bill—held out his pale white hand. "You've been wanting to talk to people, Gears. Your sister, your friend! I can help you! And you just have to help me!"

 

Jasper shook his head, not knowing what was going on. This had to be a dream. But ghosts didn't sleep. So he asked; "what's the deal?"

 

"I'll give you a new body! One just like your old one! You'll be able to travel and be a real person again!"

 

This was too good to be true. But it was so good. Jasper couldn't help but put out his hand, shaking with Bill.

 

"Please."

 

"It's a deal, Gears."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I don’t say it enough, but thanks for all the support! This fic means a lot to me and I enjoy writing it, and I always get happy knowing that other people enjoy it too!


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